Philippine media

Chinese News TV airs on the ABS-CBN News Channel

Camille Elemia

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Chinese News TV airs on the ABS-CBN News Channel

DEAL. Chinese News TV airs on the ABS-CBN News Channel on weeknights.

Screenshot of CNTV video

(3rd UPDATE) Chinese News TV, owned by a Filipino-Chinese company, aims to promote shared culture and spread Beijing's One Belt One Road advocacy

The ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) has entered into an agreement with a Filipino-Chinese media company to air “Chinese News TV (CNTV),” a nightly weekday news program delivered mainly in Mandarin Chinese.

CNTV began airing on the cable news channel on Monday, April 12. According to its website, “CNTV is the first news program that regularly reports Philippine headlines in Mandarin Chinese.” It also uses English and Filipino as supporting languages.

It aims to “promote shared Filipino-Chinese culture” and “spread the One Belt One Road advocacy,” China’s initiative that aims to link the economic circles in East Asia and Europe, connecting China – on land and over water – to  partners in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

CNTV is produced by Horizon of the Sun Communications, Incorporated, the same team behind Chinatown TV, the longest running Filipino-Chinese lifestyle show. Horizon of the Sun Communications is headed by Lolita Ching and daughter Louella Ching-Chan. CNTV also aired on government station IBC-13 and the Iglesia ni Cristo-owned channel NET25.

Ching-Chan said CNTV has been airing since November 2017 and has always catered to the local Filipino-Chinese community.

“We decided to join ANC because it is a reputable news channel that would help us reach our audience,” she said in a response to Rappler.

In a statement, ABS-CBN said it “retains the editorial control, provides the newscast with national stories, and ensures the translation from Mandarin to English subtitles are accurate.”

On Twitter, ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs chief Ging Reyes explained ANC’s move.

After this story was published, CNTV and ANC changed all mention of “Chinese News TV” in their platforms to “Chinatown News TV.” However, CNTV’s website still reflected its original name in its URL.

CNTV also removed from the website its goal to “spread One Belt One Road advocacy.”

Chinese News TV had been airing on ANC for two days before changing its name to Chinatown News TV.
Screenshot of ANC video

After drawing the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte, ABS-CBN, ANC’s mother company, was shut down in 2020 for supposed numerous violations. Some of its programs are still airing on free TV through blocktime deals with other local channels and on ABS-CBN’s cable and digital platforms.

Filipinos remain skeptical of China despite Duterte’s closer ties to the regional giant and the outpouring of Chinese loans and vaccine donations to the Philippines. This stems from its continued incursions in the West Philippine Sea even after an international arbitral tribunal ruled that China’s expansive claims over the entire South China Sea is illegal. – Rappler.com

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Camille Elemia

Camille Elemia is a former multimedia reporter for Rappler. She covered media and disinformation, the Senate, the Office of the President, and politics.