Southern Broadcasting Network, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Mass media
Founded	1977 (radio) May 30, 1992 (1992-5-30) (television)
Headquarters	Worldwide Corporate Center, EDSA corner Shaw Boulevard,Mandaluyong,Philippines
Area served	Nationwide
Key people	Wilson Y. Tieng(Chairman) William Y. Tieng(President) Linnie M. Dinopol(Vice President)
Services	Broadcasting Radio Television
Parent	Solar Entertainment Corporation

Southern Broadcasting Network, Inc. (SBN) is aFilipino media company based inMandaluyong,Philippines. SBN is a subsidiary ofSolar Entertainment Corporation, a Filipino-owned television company managed by the Tieng family.

Its main broadcast facilities are located at the Third Floor, Worldwide Corporate Center, EDSA corner Shaw Boulevard,Mandaluyong.

Southern Broadcasting Network operates television stations with airtime being leased by its parent Solar Entertainment, serving as primary broadcasters of movie and entertainment channelSolarFlix. SBN also owns two regional FM radio stations under the brand XFM Philippines in Cebu and Davao and a regional FM radio station under the brand Solid FM in Bacolod, serving as partial affiliates of Y2H (Yes2Health) Broadcasting Network.

SBN was founded by Gem Communications Holdings Corporation (GemCom) majority owned by Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Co, founder of supermarket chainPuregold Price Club Inc. with 97% share. Leonardo B. Dayao and Teofilo A. Henson served as chairman and president of SBN, respectively.

TheDavao-based broadcast company launchedDWCP-TV channel 21, on May 30, 1992, becoming the first local UHF TV station inMetro Manila. It was then known as World TV 21, which was operated by the Kampana Television Corporation, providing programming content fromABC,ESPN andCNN.

On September 7, 1995, SBN was granted a 25-year legislative franchise under Republic Act No. 8147, albeit withoutPhilippine President Fidel V. Ramos' signature as the bill lapsed into law after 30 days of inaction.^[1]

In 2000, SBN started airingAng Dating Daan after transferring fromPTV, as well as informative and educational programs, and the most notable program during the network's popularity,SBN Music Videos, which later evolved asSBN 21 Live, a videoke oriented program. In 2001, theIglesia ni Cristo launched its own program,Ang Tamang Daan, as a direct response to Ang Dating Daan, featuring video footages and recordings of ADD hosts as issues were tackled. Over time the animosity between the two groups has intensified, and their relationship has been severely strained. TheQuezon CityRegional Trial Court on Wednesday ordered televangelist Bro.Eliseo Soriano ofAng Dating Daan to pay theIglesia ni Cristo, P100,000 in moral damages for libel committed 10 years ago. Branch 92 Judge Eleuterio Bathan also directed him to pay a fine of P6,000 each for two counts of libel. He ruled the elements of libel have been established in the case filed by INC over Soriano's pronouncement on a television program on April 25, 2003, and the replay on April 27 on the same timeslot during the live program of Ang Dating Daan on SBN.^[2][3]

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo, including its minister Michael Sandoval, due to statements of Soriano aired on August 10 referring to the minister. By 2004,Ang Dating Daan transferred toUNTV, whileAng Tamang Daan moved to the INC's secular television stationNet 25.

On January 1, 2008,Solar Entertainment Corporation began to lease airtime on SBN, choosing to broadcast programming from its entertainment channelETC.^[4] Months prior to the deal,SkyCable stated that they would offer less "redundant" programming and feature more series that had never been aired in the country before, but reports surfaced that channels operated by Solar were pulled due to a dispute; SkyCable's owner,ABS-CBN Corporation, believed that Solar's lower fees for advertising on its channels were causing ABS-CBN to lose revenue. The new blocktime deal between SBN,Radio Philippines Network,Rajah Broadcasting Network, and Solar is said to be a part of the latter's retaliation to Sky.

In mid-2010, GemCom sold all of its 97% equity share in SBN to Solar Entertainment for Php 368.8 million. Since then, SBN became a fully owned subsidiary of Solar.

When Solar Entertainment's former channelSolar TV expanded as abroadcast television company, after Solar acquired a 34% majority stake of RPN, ETC was transferred to RPN. Meanwhile, SBN and Solar created news and talk channelTalk TV, with both parties enjoying a 50% share of the channel. The newly created channel conducted its test broadcast until March 31, 2011, with full operation commencing on April 1, 2011. By January 16, 2012, Talk TV became the first home of Solar's newly created division,Solar News. The first local news event covered was theRenato Coronaimpeachment trial. On October 30, Talk TV was relaunched as theSolar News Channel. Though it was claimed as "the first 24-hour English news channel on free-to-air TV", SBN (who holds free-to-air broadcast rights of SNC) never materialized SNC's slogan.

On December 1, 2013,Solar News Channel moved toRPN to allow SNC's wider coverage, whileETC returned to SBN a day before.^[5][6][7][8] (SNC and RPN, however, were sold to ALC Group of Companies chair, the late Amb.Antonio Cabangon Chua, in August the following year, due to the Tieng's loss of revenue after investing on RPN.)

On July 26, 2019,Philippine PresidentRodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11354 which renewed SBN's legislative franchise for another 25 years. The law granted SBN a franchise to construct, install, operate, and maintain, for commercial purposes, radio broadcasting stations and television stations, including digital television system, with the corresponding facilities such as relay stations, throughout the Philippines.^[9]

SBN's upcoming expansion of digital terrestrial television will be announced soon as possible in other key cities nationwide.

• Asean Media: SBN

• Southern Broadcasting Network
• Philippine radio networks
• Television networks in the Philippines
• Filipino-language television stations
• Mass media companies of the Philippines
• Television in Metro Manila
• Companies based in Mandaluyong
• Television channels and stations established in 1992
• Entertainment companies established in 1970
• Mass media companies established in 1970
• Philippine companies established in 1970
• Solar Entertainment Corporation

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