Draft:ABS-CBN

Background

ABS-CBN is a television network in the Philippines and also a major media and entertainment conglomerate, founded on June 13, 1946 as Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) by an American engineer, James Lindenberg. Judge Antonio Quirino bought stocks from BEC and later gained the controlling stock and later renamed the company from BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS). Their first telecast was on October 23, 1953, on channel 3 (using the callsign DZAQ-TV). After the premiere telecast, DZAQ-TV followed a four-hour-a-day schedule from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

On September 24, 1956, brothers Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and former Vice President Fernando Lopez established the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (named after the Manila Chronicle newspaper which Eugenio owned at the time), which was initially focused on radio; they bought Alto Broadcasting System on February 24, 1957 (also reverting the corporate name to its previous one) and established another TV station (DZXL-TV 9) under the CBN brand in 1958. Broadcasts of selected shows in color began in 1966, a first for a Philippine television network, and on February 1, 1967, the company was renamed ABS–CBN Broadcasting Corporation. ABS-CBN opened its Broadcast Center along Bohol Avenue, Quezon City on December 18, 1968, and on November 14, 1969, DZAQ-TV was transferred to channel 2, where it remained the positioning frequency of the station for more than 50 years, while DZXL-TV transferred to channel 4 (and later became the state-run People's Television Network).

On September 23, 1972, ABS-CBN was forced to shut down, due to then-President Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law. It was later relaunched as "The Star Network" on September 14, 1986, a few months after the People Power Revolution, even keeping its DWWX-TV callsign for the Metro Manila TV station. However, on May 5, 2020, the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order to temporarily stop the network's broadcast, including its radio stations, MOR 101.9 and DZMM TeleRadyo. Following this, ABS-CBN's programming then began airing on Kapamilya Channel (Philippines), alongside A2Z (in joint venture with ZOE Broadcasting Company) on analog transmission. On October 6, 2022, the company signed a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to distribute their some of their programming overseas.

Alto Broadcasting System

1st Logo (October 23, 1953-June 14?, 1961)

Logo: On a white background, the callsign "DZAQ-TV" is stacked on top of a box that reads "Channel 3", and the Alto Broadcasting System logo is displayed below the box.

FX/SFX: None

Music/Sounds: None

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

Chronicle Broadcasting Network

(July 1958-June 14?, 1961)

TBA.

ABS-CBN (1961-1972)

1st (known) Logo (1966?)

Logo: The words, "TODAY! SEE..: Channel 3 IN COLOR 1:00-3:00 P.M." stacked on top of each other, against a color bar background zooming in. When it fully zoomed in, the text fades out.

FX/SFX: The color bars zooming in, and the text fading out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct. It can be found here.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd (known) logo (February 1, 1967-September 23, 1972)

Nicknames: "The Transmitter", "The Lollipop"

Logo: On a black background, inside a square outline is a vertical line (which represents a transmitter), and three circles surrounding it (which represents Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A flute playing ABS-CBN's famous 13-note corporate jingle.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation/City2 Television

Background

Not to be confused with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Roberto Benedicto (who owned the Kanlaon Broadcasting System at the time) acquired ABS-CBN's corporate assets (including its Broadcast Center) and established a new network called Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (named after Mount Banahaw) on November 4, 1973. DZAQ-TV became the network's flagship station (serving Metro Manila) and had its callsign changed to DWWX-TV. In 1978, BBC-2 (along with KBS, which used channel 9 since 1969) transferred its operations to Broadcast City in Capitol Hills, Quezon City. For a limited time from 1980 to 1984, BBC-2 was rebranded as City2 Television, where its well-known Scanimate ident became the first computer-generated ident from a Philippine television station. On March 20, 1986, the network ceased its operations and its assets (including radio and television frequencies) were returned to ABS-CBN in July of that year.

1st (known) Logo (1978-1980)

Nickname: "Big Bold Channel", "Broadcast City 2"

Logo: On a blue background, we see a large three-dimensional 2, next to a red square/rectangle, with the letters, BBC.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral fanfare, with an announcer saying, "Broadcast City 2."

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: Probably, one of the oldest known found Philippine TV idents to surface on YouTube.

2nd Logo (1980-1984)

"Delivers Entertainment!" variant

Nickname: "Scanimate City2", "We're Here Just For You."

Logo: On a black background, a sparkle traces out an outline. Then, we see 3D letters sliding and flipping from the right to the formed outline. The two number 2s flies into the outline, Then the logo glows. The word "TELEVISION" slides down from the bottom of the stylized "2" and the slogan "...we're here just for you." flies with a trailing effect to the bottom of the logo.

Trivia:

This was made by Ed Kramer, who is well-known for the Prism Entertainment logo.
This is one of the first scanimated idents in Philippine Television.

Variant(s): There is a variant in which the City2 Television logo is placed on a space background with a planet (possibly Earth) in the corner, with the words "DELIVERS ENTERTAINMENT!" (in a "computerized" font). Only a picture exists.

FX/SFX: All Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized, bombastic music, with vocals singing, "City 2 Television" and "City 2"

Availability: Extinct, but the original ident can be found on Ed Kramer's YouTube channel. A video can be seen here.

Editor's Note: One of the most remembered and loved logos by Filipinos.

ABS-CBN (1986-2020)

1st Logo (September 14-November 30, 1986)

Nickname: "Watch Us... Do It Again!"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: The video footage has been found, but it got deleted. There is an existing image.

2nd Logo (December 1, 1986-February 28, 1987)

Nickname: "Sharing a New Life with You"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Unknown.

Editor's Note: The logo is completely lost, unknown if there is a recording of it.

3rd Logo (March 1, 1987-1989)

Nickname: "The Star Network"

Logo: In a space background with moving grids, the ABS-CBN corporate logo flies into the center, along with the stylized 2 with a rhomboidal star, and the slogan flies into the screen saying, "The Star Network"

FX/SFX: The space background, the grids, and the flying ABS-CBN corporate logos.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare, with Peter Musñgi's voice saying, "This is ABS-CBN. You're on channel 2, DWWX-TV in Metro Manila, The Star Network.". A popular version, which is often used in their anniversary logos at the time, is a dreamy fanfare along with the ABS-CBN theme in the end.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: The logo seems fine, but the graphics are dated.

4th Logo (1988-1991)

Part 1
Part 2

Nickname: "The Star Network II"

Logo: On a cyan background, we see a light green Philippine map flying towards the screen. Once it fully zoomed in, it cuts into a black background with the 3D rings, flips around the center of the screen along with a box with a transmitter, until it stops at the middle, one by one. Then, the 3D letters "ABS" and "CBN" flies into their positions, revealing the whole logo, then it flips out to reveal three golden number 2's forming a bigger stylized "2". A shine traces, and colors the stylized "2" and a rhomboidal star zooms in at the tip of the "2".

FX/SFX: All CGI.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Ultra rare.

The only footage of this ident is seen on the 3rd PMPC Star Awards, which disappointingly, in a very poor recording, with no color whatsoever.
The final few seconds of the animation was reused in their sign-off and the other fragment was found in a Palibhasa, Lalake promo from 1988.

Editor's Note: This ident, along with the other main television network idents were found on the same video, but only two of them (PTV-4, RPN-9) are found in full-color and high-quality recordings. The other two (ABS-CBN and GMA) also have high-quality recordings, but no full-color footage. Links here and here.

5th Logo (1989)

Part 1
Part 2

Nickname: "The Philippines' Largest Network"

Logo: In a black background, the words, "Presenting...." fades in at the top, then "The World's First Ever Jingle Sung By A Thousand Voices." fades in at the bottom. Then, we fade into a large crowd singing the jingle while the camera is zooming out to reveal even more people. The crowd started clapping after the jingle, then the ABS-CBN wordmark in 3D, zooms out from the bottom of the screen, with a white ring rolls over the wordmark before splitting into three. The rings later changed into its corresponding colors, red, green, and blue, when two metal lines slide over and under the rings. The square, along with the wordmark, slides into the center to form the logo. After the animation, the sentence "THE PHILIPPINES' LARGEST NETWORK" fades in.

FX/SFX: Live-action and CGI.

Music/Sounds: The crowd singing the jingle, "ABS-CBN, The Philippines' Largest Network", and the clapping at the end, with the ABS-CBN theme playing at the end.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (1989-1992)

Nickname: "In the Service of the Filipino"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Later Variant: By 1992, the slogan now reads "In the Service of the Filipino Worldwide".

Special Message Variants: The finished ident zooms out to the lower right (and gains a white border), uncovering a special message.

1989: On a lavender-navy blue gradient background are the words "Be clean in everything you do." in a white, bold, Futura-like font in uppercase.
1992: On a background resembling many green leaves are the words "Borrowing trouble from the future does not deplete the supply." in a white, Century Gothic-like font in uppercase. To the left of the ABS-CBN ident is the logo of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP, which means "Association of Philippine Broadcasters" in English) in white, but without the "KBP" lettering. Below that are the stacked words "KBP MEMBER" (indicating ABS-CBN's membership in that broadcasting association) in a white sans-serif font in uppercase.

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (1991-1993?)

Nicknames: "Searchlights", "20th Century ABS-CBN"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

8th Logo (1993-1994?)

Nickname: "Sarimanok"

Logo: A shot with multicolored animated plants is shown, while some blades of grass ascend from the ground. The grass forms into the feathers of a stylized sarimanok (a mythical bird of Maranao mythology). The sarimanok flies into a studio, turning to a blue human, to a rainbow human. The human transfers to a laser, sending the laser up to a radio tower to the high building of the ABS-CBN. It also sends the laser up to a satellite. The satellite draws rainbow lines and becomes a Sarimanok. the Sarimanok flies into a city to a Black-And-White SMPTE screen. We zoom out to Earth with the country near the America. We zoom out to an eye of the Sarimanok, and flies down to water. The water splashes and shows three rings. We come across the ABS-CBN logo, horizontal, and the Sarimanok lands on the top on the logo.

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: An orchestra with the 6-note ABS-CBN jingle at the end.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: There is an animation error where the Philippines is located near the American continents. Aside from that, it is a decent logo for its time. This is one of the most remembered idents of the network.

9th Logo (1994)

Nickname: "All the Best Shows Come from the Brightest Network"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

10th Logo (1994-1997?)

Logo: This series of idents revolves around the ABS-CBN logo being integrated into different kinds of scenery.

FX/SFX: TBA

Variants:

Explosion: TBA
Drawings: TBA
Stadium: TBA
Raindrops: TBA
Colored Clouds: TBA
White Clouds: TBA
Birds: TBA
Futuristic City: TBA
Wooden House: TBA
Galaxy: TBA
Kaleidoscope: TBA
Flying Lights: TBA
Film Reel: TBA
Building Blocks: TBA
Christmas Wreath: TBA
Snowy Mountain: TBA
Desert: TBA
Dark Clouds: TBA
Gold and Flames: TBA
Cave Drawings: TBA
Kiddieland: TBA
Da Vinci Sketches: TBA
Ball: TBA
Papers: TBA
Twister: TBA
Searchlights II: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

11th Logo (1997-1998?)

Nickname: "The Total Entertainment and Information Network"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

12th Logo (1998-1999?)

Nickname: "Philippine Centennial"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

13th Logo (1999-2000?)

Nickname: "In the Service of the Filipino II"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

14th Logo (2000-2001?)

Nicknames: "Millennium", "The Most Powerful this Millennium", "In the Service of the Filipino III"

Logo:

Part 1: We see still images and video clips of important events in ABS-CBN's history (from the founding of the Bolinao Electronics Corporation in 1946 up to 2000), including footage of some of the network's various shows and news coverages and the logos of its major corporate assets. Then, on a black background, we zoom out to reveal a broadcast transmitter tower (representing the Millennium Transmitter) with the phrase "the most powerful this millennium" in white (the highlighted words are in a futuristic font and glow green when they appear) being displayed on-screen.
Part 2: On a black background with a "projected screen" that flashes various colors, some TV tube-like shapes, each with a white border and depicting a past corporate name or ident of the network (with a date below for the first, second, and fifth tubes), position themselves on the screen to surround a bigger TV tube that displays an ABS-CBN logo. After the camera zooms inside the bigger tube, the 1993 ABS-CBN logo is seen, first with the words "ABS" and "CBN" being shown, then the rest of the logo is shown as a blue lens flare goes through the logo in a northwest direction. The words "ABS" and "CBN" then morph into a sleeker design as a white translucent cube spins into place behind the words, then the other parts of the logo form into place with the white cube from earlier as the base. The word "ABS-CBN" then zooms out while spinning backwards, as a thin horizontal line and the phrase "In the Service of the Filipino" (both colored white) wipe leftwards and rightwards, respectively, and the logo shines.

Variant: A short version of this ident starts from the point where the TV tubes appear.

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare (called "Millennium Overture") composed by Ryan Cayabyab that incorporates the network jingle.

Availability: Shown on ABS-CBN's TV stations during that time period.

Editor's Note: TBA

15th Logo (2001-2003, April 2004)

Nicknames: "ABS-CBN in the Sky", "In the Service of the Filipino IV"

Logo: This logo consists of two sections:

Top and bottom thick borders: Both borders are colored white. On the top border, repeating instances of the word "ABS-CBN" (in a black sans-serif font and uppercase) scroll rightwards. On the bottom border, repeating instances of the phrase "In the service of the Filipino" (in the same formatting as the text on the top border but the words this time are separated by a middle dot) scroll leftwards.
Main content: On a daytime sky, surrounded by the aforementioned borders, the colored rings of the ABS-CBN logo spin on their own axes. Then, the red and blue rings move away while another red ring and another blue ring merge with the green ring, with the camera moving the rings out of focus. The ABS-CBN logo then forms itself from the upper left side; as the logo finishes forming, a circular "aura" is repeatedly generated behind the logo, radiating outwards and even overlapping the borders.

Variants:

A night-time version of this ident has the sky in a gold color and the borders being dark blue (with the text inside the borders in white).
The variant shown on The Filipino Channel has the top border text read "The Filipino Channel" instead of "ABS-CBN", and the bottom border text adds the word "Worldwide" (making the phrase "In the Service of the Filipino Worldwide").

FX/SFX: This animation was made by Clark Fairfield and Autonomy.

Music/Sounds: A orchestral fanfare which ends with the iconic six-note jingle.

Availability: Shown on ABS-CBN's TV stations during that time period.

Editor's Note: TBA

16th Logo (2003-April 2004)

Nicknames: "50 Years", "50th Anniversary", "In the Service of the Filipino V", "Golden Lolipop"

Logo:

Short version: We see the ABS-CBN logo's rings turning gold, followed by a broadcast transmitter tower which turns into a golden stick (similar to the original ABS-CBN logo). The rings and the stick then join together in a golden square on a blue background to form the ABS-CBN logo with the huge text "50 Years ABS-CBN Television" with the text "Since 1953" while a male announcer (Peter Musñgi, the main voice-over artist of the network starting from 1986) says the Tagalog sentence "Ito po ang ABS-CBN, limampung taon nang naglilingkod sa sambayanang Pilipino." (English: "This is ABS-CBN, serving the Filipino people for fifty years.") with red, green, and blue beams surrounding the anniversary logo.
Long version: We see a television screen with the year 1953 (which is the year when ABS-CBN started its TV broadcast operations) displayed on it, followed by pictures of the Quiapo Church, a kalesa, and the Manila City Hall. Then, the network's various milestones up to 1972 are shown, followed by the events of the imposition of Martial Law in 1972 and the first People Power Revolution in 1986. Then, we see footage of various shows broadcasted by the network from 1986 to 2003, followed by the streets of Metro Manila with a steel bridge similar to the one near the MRT-3 Guadalupe station, the Quezon City Memorial Circle, and the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center with two of the company's helicopters flying in the background. Afterwards, we see the Broadcasting Center again, this time with a company van, followed by a flurry of years from 1953 to 2003 (in the Eurostile font) with a male announcer (again Peter Musñgi) saying the Tagalog sentence "Lumipas at magbago man ang panahon, sa isip, sa puso, at sa diwa ng Pilipino, iisa ang ibig sabihin ng telebisyon. ABS-CBN, limampung taon nang naglilingkod sa sambayanang Pilipino." (English: "As time may come and go, in the mind, heart, and in the spirit of the Filipino, there is only one meaning in television. ABS-CBN, serving the Filipino people for fifty years."). It shows the ABS-CBN 50th Anniversary logo with a searchlight and a slideshow of the history of the ABS-CBN, with the network's motto, "In the Service of the Filipino", shown below the anniversary logo.

Variants: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Shown on ABS-CBN's TV stations during that time period.

Editor's Note: TBA

17th Logo (2004-2014?)

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

18th Logo (January 1, 2014-May 5, 2020)

Nickname: "Universe"

Logo: On a white background, a black rectangle is drawn, which then flies upwards to a pixel grid above. As soon as the rectangle touches the grid, the pixels then fly across the screen; the scenery transitions into a galaxy-like space area, with red, green, and blue cubes flying around the sun. The scene then cuts to a different camera angle, where a set of RGB half-rings radiate across the scene and a glass ring materializes around the cubes. Several more glass segments form and merge into two more rings and a rectangle as the glass segments begin to take on the colors of the ABS-CBN logo. The scene then cuts to another angle shot, showing the completed logo rotating to the center of the screen and becoming flat while several small glass segments break away from the logo and the background changes back to white. Once the logo has settled to the center, another set of RGB half-rings then draw from the right and disappear. The text "ABS-CBN" (now in a modified version of the 2000 logo font) then fades in letter-by-letter below the logo, along with the slogan "In the Service of the Filipino Worldwide".

FX/SFX: CGI animation by Alfie Landayan and Olivr Palr, created with Maxon Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 15th logo, but slightly extended. When the logo is formed, Peter Musngi (the current announcer for ABS-CBN) says "ABS-CBN, in the service of the Filipino worldwide".

Availability: Was used as a station ID during 2014.

Editor's Note: A well-executed way to unveil the current logo for the company.

External links

Official website
ABS-CBN on Wikipedia