Solar Entertainment Corporation
Its full service digital broadcast teleport features server technology facility located in Barangay Sta.
It is built around two encoder platforms, Scientific Atlanta Power Vu Classic(DVB) and Motorola Digicipher II(MPEG-@).
Intended for a predominantly male audience, the company launched the country’s leading general entertainment cable channel, Jack TV, in July.
On January 1, 2008, Solar Entertainment Corporation began to lease block airtime with terrestrial TV networks, RPN, SBN and RJTV.
On May 22, 2009, a victory party for Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, who just became the new IBO (International Boxing Organization) and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion, was held at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati, in partnership with GMA Network Inc.
Solar and GMA executives at that time signed for a partnership in TV coverage of Manny Pacquiao's upcoming boxing matches.
[12] On March 2, 2011, after SEC acquired 34 percent of RPN's shares from the Philippine government as part of RPN/IBC privatization in 2011, Solar TV finally ventured into news at the end of 2011.
Post-EDSA revolution ABS-CBN newsmen Pal Marquez, Jing Magsaysay and Pia Hontiveros together with former ANC anchors Claire Celdran, Mai Rodriguez and Nancy Irlanda, known as the pillars of Solar News.
[15][16] On December 24, 2011, The Game Channel limited its broadcast on daytime sharing with a new programming service called CHASE which takes over the evening block.
In February 2012, both services aired a promotion, announcing the split of CHASE and TGC to form themselves as separate channels.
On January 3, 2013, SEC launched Blink Cinema (later renamed as My Movie Channel) with the full broadcast taking effect later that month.
On April 14, 2013, TV5 Network Inc. and Solar Entertainment Corporation joined to broadcast the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila on Philippine television on August 1–11.
[20] On June 28, 2013, Jack City reduced its free TV broadcast to 18 hours a day on BEAM in compliance with the National Telecommunications Commission's guidelines.
[24] On August 20, 2014, Solar Entertainment Corporation chief Wilson Tieng announced that he ceded his entire share on Solar TV Network, Inc., including its 34% majority share on RPN, to Antonio Cabangon-Chua, owner of business daily BusinessMirror and Aliw Broadcasting Corporation.
On September 1, 2014, Jack City ended its run on free TV due to the preparations being made by BEAM 31 for the incoming transition to ISDB-T digital television, though it continues to be broadcast as a separate cable channel.
After Jack City's closure to free TV, BEAM aired under blocktime programs from various local production and religious companies.
This move resulted of Jack City in a change of its channel assignment for SkyCable and Destiny Cable subscribers, as well as several pay TV companies.
On March 26, 2015, Solar Entertainment announced its broadcast of the "Fight Of The Century" between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3, 2015.
According to some sources, a directive from President Duterte ordered that the major networks must cover the prestige pageant as it happens live in the Philippines.
Alongside the Big Three, Solar Entertainment channels ETC, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV and CT aired the pageant simultaneously.
claims that these troubles with Sky Cable started when boxer Manny Pacquiao, whose fights Solar Entertainment has the exclusive right to air and distribute to, moved from ABS-CBN, the flagship television network of ABS-CBN Corporation and the primary owner of Sky Cable Corporation, to rival GMA Network.
However, Solar has signed a deal with local terrestrial channels ABC, RPN, SBN and RJTV for block-time programming.
On April 10, 2017, 3 days before the 2017 NBA playoffs was scheduled to begin (and coincided with the final day of the 2016–17 NBA regular season), Basketball TV, NBA Premium TV, Solar Sports, Jack TV and CT (now defunct) were removed by Solar from Sky Cable (including Sky Direct, Destiny Cable & Sky On Demand thru video on demand) without any prior announcement from Solar.
As the dispute continued, some media enthusiasts and netizens raised concerns of whether these Solar channels will return to Sky and/or Destiny.
Others pointed that inaction between the two parties could affect the next long-term local broadcast franchise with the NBA, slated to begin at the Association's 2019-2020 regular season.
(Solar and Sky's parent, ABS-CBN, would share the airing of NBA games on pay and terrestrial television.
Rumours circulated that both networks may bid separately, if they could not reach renewal, and use their respective infrastructure to broadcast adequate NBA coverage.
Netizens and viewers were dismayed and frustrated by the removal of the said channels by Sky Cable, most notably for BTV and NBA Premium due to the importance of the Playoffs.
During the aforementioned period, Shop TV, ETC and 2nd Avenue (now defunct) were kept on-the-air, due to the "must-carry" rules by the NTC.
MTVph was also kept on the air (until it was discontinued on January 1, 2019) since it was carried in a separate programming agreement outside of the affected channels despite its ownership.
