While TFC traces its origins to 1994, the idea of broadcasting television programming via satellite to the millions of the Filipino diaspora everywhere in the world was an innovative idea that the then ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation took in the late 1980s, just as it began its road of reconstuction after the brutal and infamous years of Martial Law and the post-Martial Law era. As the network in 1989 began to become once more the Philippines' leading television network, the network finally made the bold step to begin satellite transmissions to Filipinos abroad when in the fall of that very year, ABS-CBN programs were broadcast via satellite to the Northern Mariana Islands, especially to the Filipino families living in Guam and Saipan, making it the first ever Philippine television network to broadcast to viewers outside the country via satellite. On September 24, 1994, ABS-CBN, through its newly established subsidiary ABS-CBN International, signed a historic deal with the PanAmSat to bring the first trans-Pacific Asian programming service to some two million Filipino immigrants in the United States using the then-newly launched PAS 2 satellite. The following day, TFC was officially launched, first as a cable only network serving millions of Filipino Americans countrywide. The first headquarters of TFC was built in a garage in Daly City, California with only eight employees doing all the tasks from managing the phones, the computers, and the like. By 1995, TFC has grown to 25,000 subscribers in the United States. Airings of Mara Clara and other programming aired during the daytime and night in 1997 Esperanza and Mula Sa Puso where the biggest programs on TFC In 1996, TFC Direct! was launched, an independently operated direct-to-home television service that incorporates the TV channels Sarimanok News Network, Pinoy Blockbuster Channel, Pinoy Central, and the radio channels DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 and WRR 101.9 For Life!. By 2004, TFC has grown to 250,000 subscribers in the United States. This growth led to the expansion of TFC to other territories in the world. In 2005, ABS-CBN International signed an affiliation agreement with DirecTV, one of the leading DTH providers in the United States. Under the deal, DirecTV has the exclusive right to distribute the TFC package on its DTH platform. In return, DirecTV will pay license fees to ABS-CBN and to ABS-CBN International. Later that year, the now defunct and award-winning internet television service TFC Now! was launched. This was later replaced by TFC.tv video streaming website. In this year, ABS-CBN International acquired San Francisco International Gateway from Loral Space & Communications. SFIG is a telecommunications port company based in Richmond, California. SFIG provides satellite communications services through its 2.5 acre facility consisting of 19 satellite dish antennas and 9 modular equipment buildings. ABS-CBN International received Federal Communications Commission licensing approval in April 2006. Also in this year, ABS-CBN International opened its state-of-the-art studio and office in Redwood City, California. In 2006, SFIG successfully handled the pay per view distribution to In Demand and DirecTV for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar Larios super featherweight championship title fight. SFIG's customers include Discovery Communications, CBS, ESPN, Playboy among others. SFIG is a member of the World Teleport Association. In 2007, ABS-CBN International launched Myx, the first and only television channel in the United States that is targeted to the Asian-American youth audience. As of 2011, TFC has over 2.47 million subscribers worldwide, Same Year, TFC Was Change 2nd New Logo. As of 2015, The Filipino Channel has over three million subscribers worldwide most of which are in United States, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, Africa, Canada and Southeast Asia. It is the only Philippine-based cable network worldwide to be broadcast in high definition to date.
Programming
The program line-up of The Filipino Channel is composed primarily of programs from ABS-CBN, a national television network in the Philippines. Programming ranging from news, documentaries, public service, reality shows, soap operas, teleseryes, talk shows, sitcoms, gag shows, live events, and other formats and genres are shown on TFC in a slightly delayed basis and are synchronized automatically depending on the location of the broadcast. TFC also airs some programs produced abroad by ABS-CBN's foreign subsidiaries in United States, Middle East, and Europe. These are generally not aired on ABS-CBN's main domestic channel but some are shown on ANC several hours or days after their original airing. In 2007 the short lived Hero TV on TFC aired in April 2007-August 2007. Since 2019, most of iWant original programs and films are also aired on the channel, as well as on TFC IPTV and TFC Online. TFC remains on-the-air since May 6, 2020, after ABS-CBN’s Philippine free TV and free radio stations were closed due to the issuance of cease-and-desist order by the National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines on May 5, 2020.
TFC Video On Demand is an IPTV service distributed around the world under the brand of The Filipino Channel. To avail of the service, users must acquire the TFC IPTV set-top box, connect the box to a TV set and broadband internet through WiFi or Ethernet, and subscribe to monthly subscription. The channel line up will depend on the subscription package availed and may include the live-streaming of TV channels The Filipino Channel, Myx TV, the international feeds of ABS-CBN Sports+Action, ABS-CBN News Channel, Cinema One, Lifestyle, Jeepney TV as well as radio channels DZMM and My Only Radio, and an in-house interactive Karaoke channel. Aside from the live-streaming of ABS-CBN channels, the service also includes a video on demand feature that allow users to watch, pause, rewind, fast-forward select programs of the channels anytime for a period of one month and in high-definition format. The service also offers a wide selection of fresh movies from the Philippines and other pay per view contents like concerts and sporting events also in high-definition format.
