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CNN Philippines (abbreviated sometimes as CNN PH) was a Philippine free-to-air television network owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network (RPN), under a license from Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. CNN Philippines was the fifth local franchise of CNN in Asia after CNN Indonesia, CNN Türk, CNN Arabic, and CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18 in India). It was formed after a brand licensing agreement with CNN Worldwide and Nine Media in 2014. It then launched on March 16, 2015, replacing 9TV, and was available on various platforms, including cable, satellite, live-streaming, and RPN's television stations.
CNN Philippines' local programming was produced from the Worldwide Corporate Center in Mandaluyong. It maintained its analog transmitter located at the RPN Compound in Diliman, Quezon City, while digital transmission facilities were located at the Crestview Subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal.
Citing financial losses, CNN Philippines ceased its operations on January 31, 2024. Its terrestrial television channel space was replaced by RPTV, a channel co-owned by Nine Media Corporation and TV5 Network, while its remaining news operations and assets were absorbed by Nine Media's indirect parent Broadreach Media Holdings to form NewsWatch Plus.
Solar News, known for its back-to-basics and unbiased journalism, 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, were known as the pillars of Solar News. A reporting team was composed of the former reporters of RPN NewsWatch, the sole and longest-running English newscast of Radio Philippines Network, which stopped airing in 2012 due to RPN's privatization.
The hourly news bulletin Solar News Update (later renamed Headlines) first aired in March 2012, followed by the primetime newscast Solar Network News and Solar Nightly News, which respectively started airing on June 18 and July 16 of the same year; Daybreak and Newsday started airing on October 1. On October 30, Talk TV finally signed off to make way for the launching of the first 24-hour English news channel on both cable TV and free-to-air TV: the Solar News Channel.
During its first months of operation, the channel produced local newscasts such as the native language newscast Solar News Cebuano, the sports newscast Solar Sports Desk, and public affairs programs Legal HD, Medtalk, News.PH, Opposing Views, Elections 2013, and News Cafe. 60 Minutes, Top Gear, Undercover Boss, and the Stories documentary block were also launched for SNC. SNC then launched its own mobile application for smartphone users with features such as live streaming, catch-up episodes (newscasts and Stories) and news from solarnews.ph.
In November 2013, San Miguel Corporation President and COO Ramon S. Ang personally acquired the minority stake of STVNI; at the time, brothers Wilson and William Tieng were the then-majority stockholders of STVNI. On December 1, 2013, SNC moved to RPN Channel 9 to improve signal and cate tor a wider audience after RPN's former occupant and Solar Entertainment-owned ETC returned to SBN Channel 21. (ETC was aired in SBN-21 from 2008 to 2011 then at RPN-9 from 2011 to 2013.) Solar News Channel then began to phase out its Solar branding on its newscast as it leaned away from the Tiengs. It also launched the Kapampangan national newscast Kapampangan News along with the public service program Serbisyo All Access in the Filipino language. Solar News Channel closed down before midnight on August 22, 2014.
Controversies hounded 9TV, as one of the motorpool drivers of the news division allegedly violated traffic rules when a news crew cab entered a no-left/no-entry road while on hazard in the Balara area on September 14, 2014. 9News management then imposed disciplinary actions and penalties against the driver and his designated reporter and cameraman.
On the day of the soft launching of CNN Philippines held on October 14, 2014 at Solaire Resort & Casino, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker stated:
The following day, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Sonny Coloma was the guest of honor at the trade launch of CNN Philippines at the Philippine International Convention Center. RPN, the broadcaster of CNN Philippines, was under the portfolio of PCOO, also known as Media Ng Bayan, from 1986 (sequestration from the Benedicto family, the original owner of RPN) until 2011 (when Solar Entertainment Corporation privatized the station). However, PCOO still owned 20% minority share on RPN.
As a part of its transition to CNN Philippines, 9TV temporarily used a green screen as its news studio in December 2014. Along with newsroom renovations and strategic hiring of personnel, its newscasts began adopting the CNN-style on-air graphics starting on January 15, 2015 in time for 9TV's coverage of Pope Francis's visit to the country. Home Shopping Network (now Shop TV) and Kids Weekend block were axed in the same month; foreign non-CNN produced programs (NBC and CBS programs) were also dropped in February, including NBC Nightly News.
On November 2, 2015, CNN International's Armie Jarin-Bennett took over as the managing editor of CNN Philippines, replacing Magsaysay. Bennett had been the head of CNN Content Sales and Partnerships in Asia Pacific after 17 years of working as a writer and producer on various programs for CNN and CNN International; in particular, she had earned a 2012 Emmy Award for coverage of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and a nomination for Typhoon Haiyan coverage in 2013. Born and raised in Manila, Jarin-Bennett had begun her career as radio newscaster before moving as an intern in the CNN Center in 1996.
Since February of 2016, CNN Philippines started to phase out current affairs shows that debuted under Solar News Channel ( Legal Help Desk), former CNN shows ( Eco-Solutions), and HLN produced shows ( Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew On Call) that had been aired as filler programming; they were replaced by newer staple programming such as Smerconish and news programming.
HLN-produced programs such as Morning Express, Weekend Express, and The Daily Share (which ended on HLN's programming on mid-November 2016) were axed from the local lineup during the main network's coverage of the respective Republican and Democratic National Conventions, but they returned on August 23 when the premieres of CNN International programming ( Amanpour and Anderson Cooper 360°) were placed on hold. Amanpour (whose select stories were featured on CNN Philippines's Global Conversations) was eventually aired but only during its discussions of Philippine affairs in global contexts; its first independent broadcast on CNN Philippines was on August 31, 2016 with Christiane Amanpour interviewing Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Leila de Lima. CNN U.S. programming ( The Lead, Smerconish, and Reliable Sources) that aired during CNN Philippines' first year of operation were also limited then. Erin Burnett OutFront remained on the local lineup until September 22, 2016.
Since mid-September 2016, HLN programming was relegated to the cable-only Graveyard slot to make way for the expansion of current affairs blocks. The Service Road with James Deakin debuted on September 19 while The Source with Pinky Webb followed suit a week later. Two CBS-produced shows ( 60 Minutes and ) were axed during the same month.
On October 9, 2016, Armie Jarin-Bennett was appointed as the president of Nine Media Corporation. With her promotion, more CNN International shows began airing as weekend staples, notably The Art of Movement and Vital Signs with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, which premiered near the end of October.
In April 2017, CNN Philippines reconfigured to a anamorphic widescreen standard-definition format, eliminating the use of letterboxing. The change allowed for a widescreen presentation, optimizing the viewing experience for viewers with compatible widescreen televisions. CNN Philippines also introduced the new slogan "At the Heart of The Story."
On November 13, 2019, CNN Philippines announced its intention to air weekend broadcasts of selected NBA games on an interim basis as a blocktimer following the expiration of broadcast rights of Solar Entertainment and ABS-CBN Sports which led to the closure of NBA Premium TV and Basketball TV (CNN Philippines's free TV partner, RPN 9, previously aired the games also under C/S 9 or Solar TV affiliation). This was due to the pending evaluation of the joint bid of ABS-CBN Sports and Cignal TV/ESPN5 (now One Sports) for the aforementioned broadcast rights.
Based from a December 2019 report of Media Newser Philippines, Nine Media Corporation and WarnerMedia agreed to extend its 2014 brand licensing agreement until the end of 2024. The extension of partnership was brought about by the positive performance, improved ratings, and financial stability of CNN Philippines.
From March 18 to 22, 2020, CNN Philippines was forced to go off-air after an employee working at the Worldwide Corporate Center, the network's headquarters, was confirmed positive with COVID-19. The channel resumed broadcast operations on March 23, 2020. However, the network went off-air again on July 7, 2020 when a utility staff member tested positive. Broadcasts resumed on July 11, 2020.
On January 10, 2022, CNN Philippines was forced to go off-air again for the third time due to limited staff and lack of implementation of health protocols in the broadcast center. Broadcasts resumed on January 11, 2022 at noon.
On December 22, 2023, TV5 Network entered into a blocktime agreement with Nine Media Corporation to broadcast the Philippines' longest-running noontime variety and entertainment show Eat Bulaga! and selected games from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) every Saturday and Sunday on CNN Philippines starting January 6, 2024. This marked the return of the two programs previously aired on RPN in order to strengthen CNN Philippines' weekend line-up.
On January 29, 2024, CNN Philippines confirmed that it would cease live news productions immediately, after which it shut down entirely end of the month on January 31; they cited financial losses and a decision to shift its focus toward the operations of their sister channel, Aliw Channel 23. Nine Media President Benjamin Ramos said: "the employees were given their severance package and their salary for the whole month of February."
On January 31, 2024, CNN Philippines quietly signed-off for the last time after their final interstitial A Moment of Serenity was played. Its last program aired was an episode of Building Bridges. On the same hour, all digital platforms of CNN Philippines were permanently deactivated.
Several personalities and remaining staff who were not part of its successor outlet either have an undisclosed status or have transferred to different news organizations, such as MediaQuest's news divisions (including News5 whose currently supply most of news and current affairs content for RPTV as part of wider blocktime agreement between TV5 and RPN; and Cignal TV news One PH), ABS-CBN News (which took over the CNN Philippines' role of supplying news content for AMBS' All TV since April 15, 2024), GMA Integrated News and Public Affairs, RPN's part owner the Government of the Philippines (through Presidential Communications Office), and Prage's newly launched Bilyonaryo News Channel.
During the sixth EdukCircle Awards, Pia Hontiveros and Pinky Webb were given a special citation for their work on the vice presidential leg of the PiliPinas Debates 2016.
Two of CNN Philippines' news programs were recognized by the Asian Academy Creative Awards for national categories on October 15, 2020: The Source with Pinky Webb won as Best Current Affairs Programme or Series while The Final Word with Rico Hizon won as Best News Programme in the country.
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