An era is about to end for the secondary Kapuso station.
On February 9, GMA Network officially unveiled the upcoming rebrand of GMA News TV on social media and television. In the clip, the voiceover (Al Torres) teases “a big change” that’s “going to be good.” Alongside, GNTV’s current logo transforms into a big puple G with the word TV encircled. The date 2.22 (or February 22) is also seen towards the end of the video.
https://twitter.com/gmanewstv/status/1359088631822966793?s=19
As of the moment, no concrete words are given by the Kapuso management yet with regards to GNTV’s upcoming rebrand. However, with the channel adding more entertainment shows in recent months and the expected entrance of the NCAA soon, GTV could be a news, sports, and entertainment channel of GMA.
Once defunct, GMA News TV will join the long list of former Kapuso secondary channels that trails back to 1995 with Citynet, which aired on channel 27. After Citynet went off air, GMA became the local partner of Channel V Philippines until 2001. After which, QTV was born in 2005 as part of a channel leasing agreement with ZOE on Channel 11.
Six years into the deal, Q rebranded to give way for the country’s second free TV news channel (only a week after AksyonTV), GMA News TV. The station was launched on February 28, 2011 with the tagline “Oras-oras Alam Ko” that pertains to GMA News and Public Affairs commitment of delivering news on the hour, every hour.
As GMA News TV, several flagship newscasts throughout the day were born like News To Go, QRT, Balita Pilipinas, Balita Pilipinas Ngayon, and State of the Nation. As recent as last year, GNTV also added flagship regional newscasts from GMA Regional TV onto its lineup via the RTV strip.
Primetime public affairs shows at 8:00 p.m. were also once the main attraction in the channel, with the likes of Investigative Documentaries, Reel Time, Bawal ang Pasaway, Motorcycle Diaries, iJuander, and Brigada leading the pack. However, as part of recent wide-scale changes in the network, the PA strip has since been moved to 5:45 p.m. before 24 Oras.
Super Radyo DZBB simulcasts (on air as Dobol B sa News TV) also became a cornerstone of the schedule, especially during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak.
News TV is also no stranger to sports as they also served as the home of PVL during its years as Shakey’s V-League from 2013 until 2015. Some lifestyle shows and blocktimed programming, along with movie blocks, teleseryes, and even animation shows filled the airtime of the network.
GMA also launcbed GNTV’s overseas counterpart GMA News TV International in 2011. But there’s no information at the moment whether the channel will reflect the local changes come February 22.
The complete list of shows that will be carried over to GTV is expected to be released by GMA soon.
GTV will be available on all local operators and free-to-air channels where GMA News TV is currently on.
One reply on “GTV is GMA News TV’s new name starting February 22”
[…] was once QTV and GNTV is another general interest channel from the Gozon-owned media empire. This rebranding has also allowed them to finally sort out the confused identity of GMA News TV, even prior to the […]