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| Division of | Solar Entertainment Corporation (2011-14) Nine Media Corporation (2014-24) |
|---|---|
| Former names | Solar News and Current Affairs/Solar News 9News and Current Affairs/9News |
| Predecessor | KBS News Department/RPN News and Public Affairs (1969-2012) |
| Country | Philippines |
| Area served | Defunct |
| Key people | Pal Marquez(Senior Vice President for Operations) Benjamin Ramos(President, Nine Media Corporation and President and CEO, Radio Philippines Network) Pia Hontiveros(Chief Correspondent) Rico Hizon(Senior Anchor, and Director for News Content Development) |
| Headquarters | Ground Floor, Worldwide Corporate Center, EDSA cor. Shaw Boulevard,Mandaluyong City, Philippines |
| Language |
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| Formed | March 2, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-03-02) |
| Launched | January 16, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-01-16) |
| Dissolved | January 31, 2024; 2 years ago (2024-01-31) |
| Replaced by | News5 (outsourced news programs) NewsWatch Plus (news operations and assets) |
| Fate | Most of the operations and assets were sold and folded toMediaQuest/TV5 Network'sNews5; remaining spun out intoNewsWatch Plus. |
Nine Media News and Current Affairs (formerly known asSolar News and Current Affairs/Solar News and9News and Current Affairs/9News) was the news and public affairs production arm and sole division of the Philippine media companyNine Media Corporation, which have been leased airtime fromSouthern Broadcasting Network (2011–2013) andRadio Philippines Network (2012–2024). The division supplies local news and content for Nine Media's television brandsTalk TV,Solar News Channel,9TV, andCNN Philippines. 9News stopped using this brand when the channel was launched as CNN Philippines on March 16, 2015, and the division was finally dissolved following the channel's closure on January 31, 2024, citing financial losses.
AfterSolar Entertainment Corporation acquired 34 percent ofRadio Philippines Network from the Philippine government as part of the RPN/IBC privatization in 2011, Solar TV launchedTalk TV on March 2, 2011, and finally ventured into news at the end of 2011.[1] On July 16, 2012, Solar News launched its first local newscasts, includingSolar Network News,Solar Newsday,Solar Daybreak andSolar Nightly News. On October 30, 2012, two newscasts began airing on RPN (by-then affiliated with entertainment channelETC) after it ceased its production of in-house flagship newscastRPN NewsWatch due to the retrenchment of the program's production team and other employees of the privatized network. On the same day, Talk TV rebranded asSolar News Channel onSBN UHF Channel 21 until November 30, 2013, when the channel transferred to RPN the next day.
In November 2013,San Miguel Corporation President and COORamon S. Ang acquired a majority stake in Solar Television Network as well as its stake on RPN. The Tiengs were the majority stockholders then of STVNI.[2]
On August 20, 2014, Solar Entertainment Corporation chief Wilson Tieng announced that he had sold his entire share ofSolar TV Network, Inc., including its 34% majority share of RPN, toAntonio Cabangon-Chua, owner of business newspaperBusinessMirror andAliw Broadcasting Corporation. The Tiengs were losing money after they invested in RPN, and the group focused on the cable channels of theSolar Entertainment Corporation.[3][4] To reflect the change of ownership, and upon announcement of the rebranding of Solar News Channel into9TV by August 23, Solar News also rebranded to9News, retaining its news and current affairs programming as 9TV expanded its weekend programming.[5][6][7]
9News underwent a major overhaul in 2015, as parentNine Media Corporation signed a five-year brand licensing agreement (later extended until the end of 2024) withTurner Broadcasting System/Warner Bros. Discovery to share resources withCNN to integrate the latter's content and 9News's reporting as CNN Philippines, which launched on March 16, 2015.
On January 25, 2024,Media Newser Philippines reported that Nine Media and CNN were closing down CNN Philippines by mutual agreement due to financial losses, as well as poor ratings of the network and loss of advertisers' support.[8]
Nine Media News and Current Affairs was dissolved a week late, on January 31, 2024. The division's live news operations had ceased on January 29, citing financial losses and a shift in focus to the operations of their sister channel,Aliw Channel 23.[9][10]
On the same day, after CNN Philippines signed off at 10:00 p.m.,TV5 Network took over RPN's airtime and formally launched its replacement channelRPTV the following day. Its news programs are now outsourced from TV5's news division,News5, acquiring the latter's former news operations and assets. On July 1, 2024, CNN Philippines' operations and assets, as well as its current affairs archives, were handled over to the newly createdNewsWatch Plus, a digital news service created byNine Media Corporation's indirect parent company Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. and independently managed by former staff of CNN Philippines. The said launch was the revival of former RPN'sin-house flagship newscast, which was defunct 11 years ago. Its current affairs archives will be seen initially on online and digital platform starting from July 1, 2024, and later on TV (via RPTV and Aliw Channel 23).[11] Other several personalities and remaining staff who are not part of its successor outlet, however, were later resurfaced either News5,ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs (which took over the CNN Philippines' role of supplying news content forAMBS'All TV since April 15, 2024),[12][13][14] orPrage's newly launchedBilyonaryo News Channel.
