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This article is about the television network. For other uses, see ABS-CBN (disambiguation).
"Kapamilya Network" redirects here. For the successor cable and satellite channel, see Kapamilya Channel.

ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation, with headquarters are located at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City. It was launched in 1953 as a television network.

History

Main article: History of ABS-CBN

Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) was founded on June 13, 1946. It was established by James Lindenberg, one of the founding fathers of Philippine television and an American electronics engineer who went into radio equipment assembly and radio broadcasting. At the time, the largest media company was the Manila Broadcasting Company, with DZRH as the leading radio station. In 1949, James Lindenberg shifted Bolinao to radio broadcasting with DZBC and planned the introduction of television to the Philippines in 1953.

In 1951, Lindenberg partnered with Antonio Quirino, brother of then-Philippine president Elpidio Quirino, to try television broadcasting. In 1952, BEC was renamed Alto Broadcasting System or ABS (with Alto Sales Corporation as its corporate name). Alto was a contraction of Quirino's and his wife's first names, Tony and Aleli. Despite little money and resources, ABS was able to put up its TV tower by July 1953 and imported around 300 television sets. The initial test broadcasts began in September of the same year. The very first full-blown broadcast was on October 23, 1953, at a party in Quirino's home. The first program to air was a garden party at the Quirino residence in Sitio Alto, San Juan. After the premiere telecast, the station followed a daily four-hour schedule from 6:00 to 10:00 PM.

ABS-CBN's first television broadcast was on October 23, 1953, as Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) on DZAQ-TV, three months after the first broadcast of Japan's NHK General TV and Nippon Television. It is the first television network in Southeast Asia to broadcast in color, the first television network in the Philippines to formally launch a digital terrestrial television service, and the first broadcast television network in the Philippines to formally launch in HD.

The flagship television station of ABS-CBN was DWWX-TV (ABS-CBN TV-2 Manila). As such, the network was informally referred to as "Channel 2" or "dos" (Spanish for two) even if the network was seen in other channel numbers elsewhere in the country. The network operated across the Philippine archipelago through the ABS-CBN Regional division which controlled 80 television stations. Its programs are also available outside the Philippines through the global subscription television channel The Filipino Channel (TFC). From 2011 to 2020, the network had been on test broadcast for digital terrestrial television using the Japanese standard ISDB-T in select areas in the Philippines. On October 3, 2015, ABS-CBN started to broadcast in high-definition quality through its affiliate direct-to-home cable and satellite television providers.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by ABS-CBN and Kapamilya Channel
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