The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, is a global subscription television network owned and operated by the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation.
As of 2016, The Filipino Channel has over three million Filipino subscribers worldwide in over 40 countries across 4 continents, most of whom are in the United States, Guam, Saipan, Middle East (including Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates), Europe (including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom), South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Alaska State, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.
This came just as it began reconstruction after forced closure under Martial Law and the 1986 People Power Revolution that ended the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.
Plans to launch the channel began in April 1994 when J. Xavier Gonzales, chief financial officer of Benpres Holdings, said that it would launch a cable television channel aimed at Filipinos living in the West Coast of the United States, rerunning Filipino shows, as well as older movies and made-for-TV films.
Airings of Mara Clara and other teleseryes began in 1997, with Esperanza and Mula Sa Puso (From the Heart) being the most popular shows.
[8] 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.
[1] By 2015, The Filipino Channel already had three million subscribers worldwide mostly in United States, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, Africa, Canada and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia).
[13] ABS-CBN now manages end-to-end workflow on the cloud, eliminating the need for expensive hardware and broadcast center operations, giving it the flexibility to run its global channels with live news from anywhere.
On September 1, 2020, TFC Online was merged with iWant to make the service accessible worldwide and was soft launched as iWantTFC.
TFC also airs some programs produced abroad by ABS-CBN's foreign subsidiaries in United States, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Europe.
On February 1, 2021, The Filipino Channel relaunched its programming lineup with new shows and more viewing options with the classification of four blocks: Early Mornings, FUNanghalian, Teleserye Playback and Primetime Bida, similar to its Philippine-based counterpart.
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.