THIS year marks a very important milestone for ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, the media company that produces Balitang America — a daily newscast which delivers news about Filipinos and for Filipinos in North America. The Filipino Channel (TFC), the international division of ABS-CBN, is celebrating its 20th year of serving Filipinos worldwide.
TFC is the first and most successful Filipino content distribution company in the US.
It has been helping Filipinos abroad remain connected to their roots by delivering television and radio programs produced by ABS-CBN in the Philippines, and even Filipino movies that have been part of the collective cultural experience of Filipinos wherever they may be.
As documented by Pinoy Television, The Story of ABS-CBN (1999), the coffee table book produced by ABS-CBN about Philippine TV:
April 1994 was a historic time for Philippine television. The most ambitious project of ABS-CBN, The Filipino Channel (TFC) was launched in Burlingame, California.
The ABS-CBN satellite service had linked up with PanAmSat’s PAS-2, the world’s first global satellite system reaching 60 percent of the world’s viewing population, including Filipinos in North America.
By September that year, TFC was running 24 hours, led by its flagship, the international edition of the hit, all-Filipino newscast TV Patrol.
By 1995, the channel had 25,000 paying subscribers, thanks to a 24-hour uplink on a Hughes satellite G-4, which beamed signals to Filipinos through cable or direct-to-home satellite dishes. TV Patrol was soon being seen in 300,000 Filipino households in the United States.
ABS-CBN stands at the forefront of the future of Philippine television. Chairman Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, likens the network’s interconnected interests to those of a “software company,” constantly developing their capability to handle the material from production to marketing to distribution, plus all other services in between — “a one stop shop for entertainment, telecommunications requirements, and information needs,” as Lopez would say.
“After North America, Filipinos in Europe and the Middle east are next on the list.”
Fast forward to 2014 — ABS-CBN has realized this vision and even more.
Going beyond entertainment and telecommunications, the company now also offers retail, theatricals, money remittance and cargo services, online audio and video streaming, IPTV, On Demand, along with philanthropic support for Filipinos and the communities they now call home.
It now has been in service of Filipinos in the Philippines, USA, Asia-Pacific, Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Middle East and New Zealand.
On April 23, Wednesday, The Filipino Channel family, along with members of the Filipino-American community, will celebrate this very important milestone at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
What can be a better way to celebrate this 20 years of service than by celebrating alongside contributions of ordinary Filipinos and organizations, who have dedicated their lives to help their kababayans in need through the Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino Awards, which is now on its 10th year here in North America.
As ABS-CBN announced:
A man without roots is a man without a face. For one’s roots to one’s motherland are a precious source of nourishment for one’s existence, identity and purpose. The Global Bayaning Pilipino Awards was organized to give patriotism – and the spirit of bayanihan – a face.
To honor Filipinos residing in the United States of America, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong with Filipino ancestry who continue to remember their roots through selfless public service for their less-fortunate Filipino brothers and sisters.
A friendship between Don Geny Lopez and Fr. Tanalega, S.J. became the bridge where the ideas of seeking out and honoring the unsung Filipino patriots crossed. Finally, in 1995, the award-giving organization was formed; and is now sustained by the UGAT Foundation – an apostolate of volunteers working for the welfare of the poor.
This year, the criterion for the award will be much broader in scope. It will focus on institutions and services that have contributed significantly to the well-being of the Filipino community globally. Given annually, the prestigious award carries with it a message of deep gratitude from the Filipino people: “We will always remember, as you have remembered.”
The Global Bayaning Pilipino Awards shall be conferred on a project or service that has been completed through communal effort in the bayanihan spirit. This project or service should have a measurable impact on a sector or community in the Philippines or in overseas Filipino communities. (To be continued)
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
