You’re Tuned In to CNN Philippines!

You’re Tuned In to CNN Philippines!

 

CNN Philippines. It’s happening

 

You read that right. We’re going to have our own flagship of CNN, the American news channel.

Nine Media Corporation, who is in charge of 9TV (formerly Solar News), secured licensing for CNN for five years. Antonio Cabangon-Chua, chairman of Nine Media, started talks with CNN June last year, and 9TV will be rebranded as CNN Philippines in the first quarter of 2015.

According to Cabangon-Chua, it started as a joke. He said, “Nag-usap sila (CNN) nung presidente namin si Reggie (Galura). Parang biru-biruan lang. Nag-materialize kasi maganda ang intensiyones ng isa’t isa.”

(CNN and our president Reggie Galuara talked. It started as a joke. It materialized because both had good intentions.)

Greg Beitchman, CNN International’s vice president for content, sales, and marketing, said that they partnered with 9TV because “we really felt a sort of synergy with their values. We spent a long time talking to them about where they felt journalism was going and where they thought their business was going and we felt very comfortable.”

To secure the partnership, Nine Media will be paying CNN a monthly fee to get the rights. Under CNN Philippines, the channel will air locally produced news and content from CNN US, some of which do not air on CNN International. According to senior vice president for news Jing Magsaysay, CNN Philippines will mostly be news and current affairs, with Filipino-based lifestyle news.

CNN Philippines will be available on cable TV under Sky Cable, Destiny Cable, Cablelink, and Cignal.

To prepare, some reporters will be sent to the US to be trained by CNN, while a number of consultants will be sent to train the rest.

CNN Philippines is the latest localized venture of CNN. There are also partnerships in Indonesia, Chile, India, Japan, and Turkey.

What do you want to see on CNN Philippines? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

You’re Tuned In to CNN Philippines!