AMCARA Broadcasting Network

AMCARA Broadcasting Network, Inc.
Type	Private
Industry	Broadcast UHF television network
Founded	April 11, 1994[1]
Founder	Arcadio and Maria Carandang
Headquarters	ABS-CBN Broadcast Center, Sgt. Esguerra Ave., Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Area served	Nationwide and Worldwide, via ABS-CBN Sports and Action
Key people	Rodrigo V. Carandang (Chairman); Jose Antonio Veloso (President);
Owner	Carandang family (51%); Rodrigo V. Carandang (49%)[2];

AMCARA Broadcasting Network is a Philippine television broadcast company. The company is located in ABS-CBN Broadcast Center, Sgt. Esguerra Ave., Quezon City. The company is majority-owned by the heirs of Arcadio M. Carandang, one of the pioneers of Philippine television who worked for ABS-CBN.[2]

At present, AMCARA owns and operates a number of UHF television stations in the provinces affiliated with ABS-CBN Sports and Action (S+A).

History

1992-1996: Ermita Electronics Corporation era

AMCARA Broadcasting Network, Inc. was incorporated on April 11, 1994.

The station was acquired from Ermita Electronics Corporation in July 1996, which initially owned the frequency of the station that began airing in May 1992 from a densely populated commercial area in Quezon City with a rebroadcast of MTV Asia, then telecasting from the STAR TV platform. It was later showing Channel [V] refeeds from 1994 onwards as MTV made the decision to split from STAR and form its own satellite TV portal in Asia.

1996-2010: AMCARA Broadcasting Network era

Three years later in 1996, MTV Asia returned to the Philippine airwaves after establishing a new regional base in Singapore. ABS-CBN was picked as the broadcast arm of MTV Asia in the Philippines at the time, and Channel 23 started test broadcasts in September 1996 with rebroadcasts of the new MTV Asia from Singapore. A month later, it launched its own programming under the station name Studio 23 and adopted the slogan "Premium Television". The station initially ran MTV rebroadcasts in the day, and ran its own shows at prime time. It also ran for 24 hours, but financial limitations forced it to sign off at 3AM every day. That has been the broadcast arrangement ever since.

5 years later, MTV Asia acquired a new local UHF frequency and Studio 23 formally became a full station, adopting rebroadcasts of its in-house cable channel Myx to fill in the void left by MTV Asia, and came up with intensified programming led by the popular reality TV game show "Survivor", and several top rate US shows like "7th Heaven", "Will and Grace" and "Charmed", among others.

By 2004, the channel opened its doors to Taglish programs. It also by that time adopted a new slogan, "Kabarkada Mo!". Previous to this trend, the station was already running its own English newscast, "News Central", from 2001 to 2010, effectively replacing the network's "The World Tonight", previously on Channel 2 which had gone on to be a cable-only newscast of ANC, a cable channel of ABS-CBN. It also geared its mostly young viewers to trends in the tech world with "Digital World". With the intensified Taglish presence, Studio 23 today now has the nightly Tagalog gag newscast "Wazzup Wazzup", the interactive youth talk show "Y-Speak", and several others. It even provided support shows to its highly successful local reality programs "Pinoy Big Brother" and "Pinoy Dream Academy", both acquired from Endemol of the Netherlands and are big hits on Channel 2.

Expansion to sports programming

In 1998, ABS-CBN, through its sports division, ABS-CBN Sports, used mainly Studio 23 to highlight its own professional basketball league, the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). The league adopted the home and away format used by the American professional league the National Basketball Association (NBA). (It however sold the franchise of the league after incurring heavy losses.) It marked the network's first serious foray into sports programming.

Later, that would be added by acquiring broadcast rights to the collegiate leagues UAAP and NCAA and the PBL.

Today, it carries a wide variety of local sporting competition, many of which involved neighborhood schools and showcasing budding Filipino sports talents.

2010-2014: Part of ABS-CBN, rebranded as Studio 23 Network

The date was brought forward and ABS-CBN Corporation's acquisition of a 49% controlling stake in AMCARA Broadcasting Network ended on March 22, 2010.

On July 12, 2010, ABS-CBN Corporation announced the formation of its broadcast television subsidiary, officially named Studio 23 Network. The AMCARA name will be cease to be used as a terrestrial broadcaster as well as blocktimer agreement, though existing AMCARA Broadcasting Network studios will keep the name.

On October 23, 2010, ABS-CBN Corporation officially announced that the integration of their UHF TV network operations as well as AMCARA Broadcasting Network has been completed and the two entities will merge into one under the name of Studio 23 Network and will operate under the business name of Studio 23, Inc.

On January 16, 2014, Studio 23 ceased its commercial broadcast and rebranded as ABS-CBN Sports and Action on January 18, 2014.

2014-2019: Studio 23 goes off the air and rebranded as ABS-CBN Sports+Action

ABS-CBN Sports and Action, stylized as ABS-CBN Sports+Action or S+A,[3] is a Filipino free-to-air sports and action channel. It is managed by ABS-CBN Sports, ABS-CBN Corporation's sports content division. The channel occupied the former channel space of Studio 23, a young adult-oriented network ceasing operations on January 16, 2014.[4][5] It began its operations on January 18, 2014.[6][7][8]

2019-present: Divestiture and franchise renewal

On January 24, 2019, ABS-CBN divested its 49% stake in AMCARA to one of the majority shareholders Rodrigo V. Carandang (who is also the chief of TV5 Network engineering). ABS-CBN has also stopped paying blocktime fees to AMCARA, based on their 2019 third-quarter financial report. Carandang was named Chairman, while former GMA Network vice-president Jose Antonio Veloso was named as president.[2]

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References

Tambuting, Gus S. (January 14, 2019). "An Act Renewing the Franchise Granted to Amcara Broadcasting Network, Inc. Under Republic Act No. 8135 Or "An Act Granting Amcara Broadcasting Network, Inc. A Franchise to Construct, Install, Establish, Operate, And Maintain Broadcasting Stations in The Philippines, And for Other Purposes" For Twenty-Five (25) Years from The Effectivity of This Act" (PDF). Retrieved January 21, 2019.
Salvosa II, Felipe (December 31, 2019). "Ahead of franchise battle, ABS-CBN sells 49% stake in provincial TV network". PressOne. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
Dyan Castillejo (January 17, 2014). "Mga dapat abangan sa bagong sports channel ng ABS-CBN". TV Patrol (in Tagalog). ABS-CBN News. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
Reuben Terrado (January 14, 2014). "Studio 23 to become an all-sports channel on free TV after reformatting". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
Eunice Blanco (January 17, 2014). "ABS-CBN turns Studio 23 into sports channel, launches 'Sports & Action'". The Philippine Star. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
Dennis Gasgonia (January 16, 2014). "ABS-CBN launches new sports channel". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
Rowena Tan (January 17, 2014). "ABS-CBN launches Sports+Action". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
"ABS-CBN Sports+Action, All New Sports Destination For Kapamilya Sports Fans". ABS-CBN Corporation. January 18, 2014. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.