ABS-CBN

ABS-CBN (an initialism of the network's former name, Alto Broadcasting System - Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Filipino commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under Lopez Group. The network is headquartered at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City, with additional major offices and production facilities in over 25 major cities including Iloilo, Cebu, and Davao. ABS-CBN is formally referred to as "The Kapamilya Network", a Filipino word which means a member of a family, and was originally introduced in 2003 during the celebration of the 50th year anniversary of television in the Philippines. It is the largest television network in the country in terms of revenues, assets, and international coverage.

ABS-CBN is the oldest television broadcaster in Southeast Asia and one of the oldest commercial television broadcaster in Asia. It is also the leading television network in the Philippines with advertising revenues of almost 19 billion pesos for the fiscal year of 2014. ABS-CBN's first ever television broadcast was on October 23, 1953 as Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) on DZAQ-TV, just 3 months after the first broadcast of Nippon Television of Japan. It is also the first television network in Southeast Asia to broadcast in color, the first television network in the Philippines to formally launched a digital terrestrial television service, and the first broadcast television network in the Philippines to formally launched in high-definition.

ABS-CBN Corporation

ABS-CBN Corporation is the largest entertainment and media conglomerate in the Philippines. It is one of the core businesses of the Lopez Holdings Corporation which are headed by an influential Filipino family. It was formed by the merger of Alto Broadcasting System (founded as Bolinao Electronics in 1946 by American electronics engineer James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino) and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (founded in 1952 by media tycoon Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and his brother, the then-Philippine Vice-President Fernando Lopez). It was incorporated as the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation on February 1, 1967, shorted to simply ABS-CBN Corporation in 2010 to reflect the company's diversification. The common shares of ABS-CBN was first traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange in July 1992 under the ticker symbol ABS and as of August 2015 has a market capitalization of over 50 billion pesos.

DWWX-TV

DWWX-TV, channel 2, is the flagship VHF station of Philippine television network ABS-CBN Corporation. Its studios and transmitter are located at the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center at Sgt. Esguerra Ave., Mother Ignacia St., Diliman, Quezon City. It is the first and oldest station of ABS-CBN, and the very first and oldest television station in the Philippines.

History

Beginnings (1953–1972)

DWWX-TV traces its history to the first Philippine television station DZAQ-TV, owned by Bolinao Electronics Corporation later renamed Alto Broadcasting System.

James Lindenberg, owner of BEC, was first to apply for a license to the Philippine Congress to establish a television station in 1949. His request was granted on June 14, 1950. Because of the strict import controls and the lack of raw materials needed to open a TV station during those days, Lindenberg branched to radio broadcasting instead.

Judge Antonio Quirino, brother of then President Elpidio Quirino, also tried to apply for a license to Congress, but was denied. He later bought stocks from BEC and later gained the controlling stock and renamed the company from BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS).