The channel is getting a makeover.
On Wednesday, January 31, Radio Philippines Network (RPN) officially bared its upcoming plans after CNN Philippines stopped broadcasting this evening.
As per the network’s advisory, channel 9 on free TV will be rebranded as ‘RPTV.’
At the moment, no exact information was provided as to what type of programs RPTV will air, except that it will air starting tomorrow.
Although, TV5 has already confirmed that its noontime show ‘Eat Bulaga’ and games of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will continue to air on channel 9 via the new RPTV.
According to a report by business website Bilyonaryo, RPTV is a collaboration between Mediaquest and Nine Media Corporation, which was the operator of CNN Philippines.
RPN’s faces over the years
RPTV will be the eighth rebrand that the frequency has faced within the past 16 years.
It began when Solar Entertainment and RPN emtered into an agreement in late 2007, which eventually saw the launch of C/S on RPN in January 2008.
It was eventually renamed C/S 9 later that year, before Solar further expanded its program offerings when it decided to relaunch channel 9 as Solar TV in November 2009.
However, that was short-lived as ETC took over the space in March 2011.
In 2012, the RPN brand ceased to be explicitly seen on-air after the end of its last original programming, the long-running newscast, ‘Newswatch,’ which folded due to the retrenchment at the station.
November 2013 saw the transfer of Solar News Channel from SBN channel 21 to channel 9. In exchange, ETC switched back to SBN, where it stayed until 2022.
When Solar sold its shares of RPN to the group of former Ambassador Antonio Cabangon Chua, RPN once again had a revamp and became known by the transitional brand 9TV.
Two months after tha launch of 9TV, owner Nine Media Corporation announced that it struck a deal with CNN Worldwide and Turner Broadcasting Corporation to bring the localized version of the global news brand CNN.
CNN Philippines then took the airwaves on March 16, 2015, airing a mix of original productions and content from CNN and HLN.
CNN Philippines shutdown
After incurring heavy financial losses in the past few years, Nine Media Corporation (NMC) announced on Monday that CNN Philippines will officially cease operations in all platforms today, January 31.
As of press time, the news channel’s social media and website accounts had been deactivated, hours ahead of its formal shutdown on television.