History
Film production and distribution
Solar Entertainment was founded and established by the brothers William Tieng, Wilson Tieng and Willy Tieng in 1976. Solar Films was then formed in 1988 (one of the first films that distributed by Solar Films is Rambo III of Sylvester Stallone), bringing international films (and later, local films since 2009) to the Philippines. Since 2012, Solar has collaborated with independent film director Brillante Mendoza for a multiple film contract.[5] On March 18, 2015, Solar launched the Sinag Maynila film festival is, which featured five films from a talented group of directors, each with a different vision and approach. The films were shown in select SM Cinemas from March 18 to 24, 2015. The winners were announced at the “Gabi ng Parangal” on March 22.
On April 2, 2004, Solar announced that they distribute films from United International Pictures (UIP, an joint venture of Viacom's Paramount Pictures and Vivendi Universal's Universal Pictures) in the Philippines starting with DreamWorks Animation's Shrek 2 on May 2004, until an temporary restraining order stopping UIP's operations in the country in March 2014.[6][7]
Cable television
On January 1, 1994, Solar launched on cable television as the Solar Entertainment Channel.
On December 22, 2000, Solar acquired Domestic Satellite Philippines Inc. (DOMSAT) from the Philippine government through Presidential Commission on Good Government after Solar won the bidding for the franchise and assets formerly owned by DOMSAT, making DOMSAT a 100% Solar subsidiary.[8] As a result, DOMSAT’s teleport is being used by Solar to produce, originate, and distribute its various television program services. Its full service digital broadcast teleport features server technology facility located in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Sumulong Highway, Antipolo, Rizal. It is built around two encoder platforms, Scientific Atlanta Power Vu Classic(DVB) and Motorola Digicipher II(MPEG-@). Program origination is done on a SeaChange Media Cluster Server System. The facility includes a 500-square-meter studio and various linear and non-linear production bays.[9] Solar Entertainment first launched its namesake entertainment cable channel in the early 2000s, one devoted to American programs. This channel was later known as Solar USA (the acronym stands for "Ultimate in Suspense and Action"), and then later simply as USA before it was replaced by two separate channels.
In January 17, 2004, Solar launched on cable sports alternative channel as Sports Plus.
On March 1, 2004, Solar Entertainment launched ETC or Entertainment Central, which is positioned as the country’s premier cable female entertainment channel. ETC is a platform that brings its audience closer to their aspirational lifestyle, as embodied by their idols.
On April 5, 2005, it test launched delivering debuting service. Intended for a predominantly male audience, the company launched the country’s leading general entertainment cable channel, Jack TV, in July.
On October 15, 2005, Solar Entertainment launched a crime and action cable channel, Crime/Suspense or C/S.
On December 15, 2005, Solar Entertainment launched a spin-off channel to ETC, ETC 2nd Avenue, a lifestyle and general entertainment channel. Started as a test broadcast on December 15, 2005, and had its full launch in 2006. The channel was later renamed as 2nd Avenue on January 17, 2007.
On October 1, 2006, Sports Plus ceased broadcasting and replaced by the Basketball TV channel formed by Solar, while moving most of Sports Plus programs to Solar Sports.
As a broadcast company
On January 1, 2008, Solar Entertainment Corporation began to lease block airtime with terrestrial TV networks, RPN, SBN and RJTV. The move was a result of SkyCable pulling out C/S, ETC, and 2nd Avenue from the cable company's lineup[10] at their own right. Those three started carrying shows from Solar's, with C/S on RPN, ETC on SBN, and 2nd Avenue on RJTV.
On May 22, 2009, a victory party for Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, who just became the new IBO (International Boxing Organization) and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion, was held at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati, in partnership with GMA Network Inc. Solar and GMA executives at that time signed for a partnership in TV coverage of Manny Pacquiao's upcoming boxing matches.[11]
The C/S cable channel was later rebranded as C/S Origin in September 2008, while the RPN network later changed its branding to C/S 9 the next month.
On November 29, 2009, Solar rebranded C/S9 as Solar TV at 11:00 am with a slogan It's A Bright New World on RPN. On October 31, 2010, it changed some of its programming content to English/Tagalog with a new slogan Kung Saan Lahat Panalo!.
In mid-2010, GemCom sold all of its 97% equity share in SBN to Solar for Php 368.8 million. Since then, SBN became a fully owned subsidiary of Solar.
On February 11, 2011, SEC partnered with ABS-CBN Corporation to air National Basketball Association (NBA) games over free TV starting February 19, 2011. The games are aired on Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports and Action later known as S+A) and ABS-CBN, but Solar still airs the games daily on BTV.[12]
On March 2, 2011, after SEC acquired 34 percent of RPN's shares from the Philippine government as part of RPN/IBC privatization in 2011, Solar TV finally ventured into news at the end of 2011. On that same day, ETC moved to RPN while TalkTV launched over SBN. TalkTV was formed by then Solar-owned Solar Television Network. The first programs that aired on the channel were Dateline NBC, Today Show, Today's Talk, NBC Nightly News, Inside Edition, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman.[13][14]
On April 8, 2011, Solar Entertainment Corporation launched The Game Channel on Destiny Cable. It conducted its initial test broadcast from April 8, 2011, until September 29. It then began airing on BEAM Channel 31 on August 15, 2011, after BEAM and Solar signed an affiliation deal, which gave the latter the use of the former's facilities. Full broadcast started on September 30, 2011.
In May 2011, ETC launched the slogan "Young and Loving It". It also saw new programs such as the reality series The Rachel Zoe Project and Bachelor Pad, drama series Nikita, and The Secret Circle, US reality series The Glee Project, comedy shows like New Girl and 2 Broke Girls, and local lifestyle show Etcetera. In 2012, ETC includes the reality show American Idol, local programs like Project Runway Philippines (season 3), drama series The Lying Game, Emily Owens MD and Beauty and the Beast, and local infotainment show ETC HQ. In 2013, ETC aired comedy-drama series The Carrie Diaries, sitcom series Super Fun Night, supernatural drama series Ravenswood, horror fantasy drama series The Originals and among others.
Solar News, known for its back-to-basics and unbiased journalism,[according to whom?] was formed in January 2012 during the coverage of the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona. Post-EDSA revolution ABS-CBN newsmen Pal Marquez, Jing Magsaysay and Pia Hontiveros together with former ANC anchors Claire Celdran, Mai Rodriguez and Nancy Irlanda, known as the pillars of Solar News.[according to whom?] Most of its news reporters are from ABS-CBN and ANC, as well as from RPN NewsWatch.[15][16]
On December 24, 2011, The Game Channel limited its broadcast on daytime sharing with a new programming service called CHASE which takes over the evening block. In February 2012, both services aired a promotion, announcing the split of CHASE and TGC to form themselves as separate channels. On February 15, 2012, The Game Channel finally shuts down on free TV and was relaunched as a cable channel; CHASE was also relaunched as a separate channel, now occupying the entire BEAM broadcast airtime on Free TV.
On April 3, 2012, Solar transferred its former Salcedo Village facilities to their new facility in Worldwide Corporate Center in Mandaluyong.[17] It also featured a newly constructed set for Solar's then-news division, which would become fully functional three months later.
On July 16, 2012, Solar News launched its first local newscast Solar Network News, followed by Solar Nightly News, an hourly Solar News Update, Solar Daybreak, and Solar Newsday.
On September 7, 2012, Jack TV plugged their announcement through CHASE programs bearing the title "Another Jack TV is rising, coming soon on this channel" (BEAM Channel 31). This indicated that CHASE was being replaced; finally, on October 20, 2012, Jack City was then launched, marking October 19 as the end of CHASE's broadcasts. Jack City still does carry some of CHASE's programs however.
In October 2012, it was found out that Solar News would replace the government-controlled RPN News, as a result of RPN's privatization, making Solar TV covering the entire network's airtime. More than 200 RPN employees, particularly those from the labor union and the NewsWatch staff, were retrenched and RPN News was closed down on October 29, effectively axing NewsWatch and NewsCap. Some retrenched government employees were relocated to either People's Television Network (PTV 4) or Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC 13) (both State-run broadcasters).
On October 30, 2012, at 5:45 am, TalkTV was replaced as Solar News Channel on Channel 21 via SBN. The channel saw the relaunch of sports news program Solar Sports Desk (now known as CNN Philippines Sports Desk), as well as the initial telecast of the Solar News and Current affairs block in November 2012 comprising five public affairs programs (Legal HD, MedTalk, News.PH, Opposing Views, Elections 2013 and News Cafe), 60 Minutes, Top Gear, Undercover Boss and the "Stories" documentaries block. In January 2013, Solar News Cebuano (now known as CNN Philippines Cebuano News) made history as the first national newscast delivered in a local dialect. In 2014, it also launched the Kapampangan national newscast, Kapampangan News and the public service program Serbisyo All Access, which is shown in Filipino language.
Prior to the channel's transfer to RPN, SNC's flagship newscast (Solar Network News) simulcasted on RPN 9 (free TV only) from the SNC's launch. The news content for RPN (then affiliated with ETC), however, was switched to Solar Nightly News on January 14, 2013, onwards, to avoid backlash from free TV viewers, particularly Free TV viewers of American Idol (in which the original plan was to replace the 6 pm via satellite broadcast to Free TV viewers by Network News, then airs the AI episodes at the 8 pm rerun in simulcast with cable and satellite viewers). Throughout the American Idol season, as the episodes are repeated at 8 PM on cable, Solar used the separate free TV-only feed, that contains reruns of selected ETC shows (but with advertisements replaced by ETC teasers and promotions) at 8 pm and Nightly News at 9 PM (with additional ETC programs, if necessary) to be used by RPN after each AI via satellite episode before RPN returns to the main ETC feed at 10 PM. This is to retain RPN's news content as it then has no newscast since the axing of NewsWatch.
On January 3, 2013, SEC launched Blink Cinema (later renamed as My Movie Channel) with the full broadcast taking effect later that month.
On April 14, 2013, TV5 Network Inc. and Solar Entertainment Corporation joined to broadcast the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila on Philippine television on August 1–11. Aside from TV5 and its sister channel (AksyonTV), the games were also broadcast over Solar’s cable channel Basketball TV.[18]
New management
On May 22, 2013, Solar Entertainment Corporation appointed two officers to manage its broadcasting and cable businesses: Manuel “Meckoy” Quiogue as chief commercial officer and Maria Theresa “Mitos” Borromeo as chief operating officer (COO).[19] Quiogue, however, suddenly died on May 31, 2013, prior to assuming his position.[20]
On June 28, 2013, Jack City reduced its free TV broadcast to 18 hours a day on BEAM in compliance with the National Telecommunications Commission's guidelines. However, it still continues to air as a cable channel 24 hours a day.
On November 9, 2013, San Miguel Corporation's president and COO, Ramon Ang, explored the possibility of acquiring a controlling stake in Solar Entertainment Corporation in his personal capacity.[21][22] However, no further announcements were made after this and Ang subsequently reached an agreement to acquire a minority stake.[citation needed]
Solar News Channel and its partnership moved to RPN 9 on December 1, 2013, while ETC returned to SBN Channel 21 a day before. (ETC was aired on SBN-21 from 2008 to 2011 then to RPN-9 from 2011 to 2013),[23] as well as the launch of Solar's video-on-demand website Blink. As a result of the channel swap (on RPN's part), Network News and Nightly News became newscasts on its own right.
In 2014, Solar Entertainment's Solar One Boracay happened during the Labor Day weekend to showcase its channels (ETC, 2nd Avenue, JackTV, JackCITY, My Movie Channel, The Game Channel, Solar Sports, BTV and NBA Premium TV) through various summer activities all over the island.[24]
On August 20, 2014, Solar Entertainment Corporation chief Wilson Tieng announced that he ceded his entire share on Solar TV Network, Inc., including its 34% majority share on RPN, to Antonio Cabangon Chua, owner of business daily BusinessMirror and Aliw Broadcasting Corporation.[25][26] Tieng sold Solar TV because they were losing money for operations after purchasing RPN. As a result of this ownership change, STVNI, Solar News Channel and RPN's majority stake were separated from the Tiengs; while ETC, 2nd Avenue, and Jack City reverted to Solar Entertainment's ownership.
On September 1, 2014, Jack City ended its run on free TV due to the preparations being made by BEAM 31 for the incoming transition to ISDB-T digital television, though it continues to be broadcast as a separate cable channel. However, Jack City continued to broadcast on cable networks until March 21, 2015. After Jack City's closure to free TV, BEAM aired under blocktime programs from various local production and religious companies. On November 15, 2014, BEAM began being carried on SkyCable and Destiny Cable subscribers (per compliance with NTC's "must-carry" basis). This move resulted of Jack City in a change of its channel assignment for SkyCable and Destiny Cable subscribers, as well as several pay TV companies.
In 2015, Solar Entertainment Corporation launched the #1stonPHTV brand of Solar channels for ETC, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV, Jack City and My Movie Channel, with the brand implemented on January 6, 2015. Since then, all SEC channels broadcast first-run foreign television programs with the hashtag #1stonPHTV (First on Philippine TV), which was formerly known as "Match Airing" (ETC), "Playing 1st" (Jack TV), "The Newest in the US" and "FastCast" (2nd Avenue) and "See It First" (Jack City).
The Game Channel, after almost three years on broadcasting, selling or ceased on February 28, 2015. The channel space was taken over by My Movie Channel on March 1.
On March 22, 2015, Jack City was replaced by CT, thus becoming independent from its parent network. Upon launch, the channel broadened its programming focus by adding talk shows, sitcoms and men's lifestyle programs to its roster.
On March 26, 2015, Solar Entertainment announced its broadcast of the "Fight Of The Century" between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3, 2015.[27] As stated in a press conference that day, it was broadcast on May 3 via delayed broadcast in three major television stations in the Philippines, ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA Network (who waived its exclusive contract with Solar to allow its multi-network coverage, but maintained its exclusive live broadcast on its radio division), with Solar Sports as its main content provider for this historic event in boxing.[28][29]
On July 1, 2015, My Movie Channel ceased broadcasting. The closure or selling was announced by Solar a day before.
Rebranding of the four flagship networks
On October 16, 2016, Solar relaunched its flagship channels ETC, 2nd Avenue, Basketball TV and Solar Sports. The four networks unveiled their new logos, on-air graphics and station IDs, which took effect on that day. CT, Jack TV, Shop TV and NBA Premium TV on the other hand remains unchanged. Also that day, Solar launched its corporate campaign slogan ...There's More To Come, which evolved in 2017 as We go for More.
In 2017, Solar Entertainment became the official Philippine broadcaster of the 65th edition of the Miss Universe in Manila. This led to another deal with ABS-CBN, TV5 and GMA (the second time that such deal happened between Solar and the Big 3 networks). According to some sources, a directive from President Duterte ordered that the major networks must cover the prestige pageant as it happens live in the Philippines. Alongside the Big Three, Solar Entertainment channels etc, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV and CT aired the pageant simultaneously. It was also in the same year when Solar Entertainment forged a joint venture with the Bermuda-based communications satellite company Asia Broadcast Satellite to launch the first nationwide free-to-air direct-to-home satellite television services using the C-band, which is set to launch on the 3rd quarter of the year.[30]
