CNN Philippines
NOTE: On Jan. 31, 2024, Nine Media Corporation shut down CNN Philippines and CNNPhilippines.com due to “significant financial losses sustained over the past years.” Its license to use the CNN brand was supposed to expire in December 2024, but the shutdown resulted in all content produced by the company using the media brand being taken down.
CNN Philippines, launched on March 16, 2015, claims to be the “only predominantly English-language channel” airing on free-to-air television with news and current affairs programs.
It is affiliated with the Cable News Network (CNN), a well-known American media outlet owned by the U.S.-based media and entertainment company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Nine Media Corporation, the owner of CNN Philippines, obtained a five-year license in 2014 to use the branding of CNN, its programming content and associated website. The license, which was renewed in 2019, will expire in December 2024.
Because Nine Media Corporation does not have a legislative broadcast franchise, it entered into an airtime agreement with Radio Philippines Network (RPN) 9, where it holds a 34.2% ownership interest, to air its programs through the latter’s six free-to-air channels. RPN was one of the Philippine government’s three TV stations until its privatization in 2011.
Nine Media Corporation is a 100-percent-owned subsidiary of JRLT-JHI Corporation, a financial holding company.
Meanwhile, JRLT-JHI Corporation’s parent company is the financial holding company Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc., which is 100%-owned by its chairwoman and president Maria Farah Z.G. Nicolas-Suchianco. Nicolas-Suchianco, a lawyer, is also the president JRLT-JHI and the corporate secretary of Nine Media Corporation. JRLT-JHI Corporation and Broadreach Media Holdings share the same office address: Suite 2802, Discovery Center, 25 ADB Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
The chairman of Nine Media Corporation is Dominic Edgard A. Cabangon, who is also the chairman of the ALC Group of Companies, a conglomerate engaged in various business activities such as insurance protection, media, automotive, and banking and finance. Cabangon took over the chairmanship of Nine Media Corporation and the ALC group from his late father Antonio Cabangon-Chua, who died a year after CNN Philippines debuted.
CNN Philippines, in partnership with RPN-9, is one of the eight media entities under the ALC Group of Companies. Those media companies are the Business Mirror, Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, DWIZ, Philippines Graphic, Cook Magazine, Brown Madonna Press, Inc., and 97.9 Home Radio.
In September 2022, CNN Philippines entered into an agreement with ALLTV, a new television channel under the Prime Assets Ventures, Inc (PAVI) led by Manuel Paolo Villar, son of the Philippines’ richest individual and former senator Manny Villar. ALLTV, which is operated by the Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS), would simulcast CNN Philippines’ flagship Filipino-language news program “News Night” from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. in an effort “to boost its credibility in the delivery of reliable news and timely information to Filipino viewers.”
Audience Share
24%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free content
Media Companies / Groups
Nine Media Corporation
Ownership Structure
Based on corporate records, the ultimate owner of CNN Philippines is Maria Farah Z.G. Nicolas-Suchianco through the financial holding company Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc.
Nine Media Corporation, the operator of CNN Philippines, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the financial holding company JRLT-JHI Corp. Meanwhile, JRLT-JHI Corp.’s parent company is Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc.
Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc.. owns 99.975% of stock shares in JRLT-JHI Corp, while the remaining 0.25% is being held by Nicolas-Suchianco.
Nicolas-Suchianco is president of both Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. and JRLT-JHI Corp. She is also the corporate secretary of Nine Media Corporation.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2015
Affiliated Interests Founder
The public identifies CNN Philippines with Ramon S. Ang, president and CEO of San Miguel Corporation. But the name of Ang is never mentioned in the corporation papers related to CNN Philippines.
founded and led the conglomerate ALC Group of Companies, which owns various media entities such as Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Business Mirror and 97.9 Home Radio. He also served in government as a full colonel in the defunct Philippine Constabulary in the 1970s, and as the Philippine ambassador to Laos during the presidency of Gloria M. Arroyo. He passed away a year after CNN Philippines debuted in 2015.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
a certified public accountant, concurrently serves as the president of Nine Media Corporation and as treasurer of its parent company JRLT-JHI Corp. In 1990, he began working for Cabangon-Chua as an administrator. Currently, he also serves in various capacities in the ALC Group of Companies: vice chairman of the board of directors of Citystate Savings Bank; president of Philippine Graphic Publications Inc., Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc. and Radio Philippines Network. He is also a vice chairman in the conglomerate’s Eternal Gardens Group of Companies and a director of Fortune Insurance Group.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Missing Data
Affiliated Interests other important people
is the president, chairperson and 100% owner of Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc., the ultimate parent company of Nine Media Corporation, which owns and operates the channel CNN Philippines. She is a lawyer and holds leadership positions in over 30 companies.
chairman of the ALC Group of Companies, is concurrent chairman of Nine Media Corporation and JRLT-JHI Corp. He holds various positions in companies under their conglomerate such as chairman of the Citystate Savings Bank, Eternal Gardens Memorial Park Corporation, and the Filipino-language daily tabloid Pilipino Mirror. He is also the president of Citystate Tower Hotel and Asian Security Agency.
concurrently serves as assistant corporate secretary of Nine Media Corporation and Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. She is also a board member of JRLT-JHI Corp. She is a lawyer who is part of the corporate practice group led by Nicolas-Suchianco. She also serves as the compliance officer of Synergy Grid & Development Phils., Inc.
is a board member and the treasurer of Nine Media Corporation.
a lawyer, is the corporate secretary of JRLT-JHI Corporation and corporate secretary/treasurer of Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. He also works for Gerodias Suchianco Estrella law firm as co-head of its tax practice group and as member of the corporate and securities practice groups. Just like Co and Nicolas-Suchianco, he also holds various positions in different companies including Cyber Bay Corporation and Synergy Grid & Dev’t Philippines, Inc.
is a member of the board of directors of Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. He shortly worked for Rappler.com as a social media producer in 2013. After five years, he passed the bar exam and began working for Gerodias Suchianco Estrella law firm in 2019 as part of Nicolas-Suchianco’s corporate practice group.
is a member of the board of directors of Broadreach Media Holdings, Inc. He is a junior partner at Gerodias Suchianco Estrella law firm and is part of its litigation, labor, and immigration practice groups.
Contact
Upper Ground Floor, Worldwide Corporate Center, Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 1552
Telephone No.: (632) 8548-4688
Website: www.cnnphilippines.com
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
7,166,143.21909 US$ / 407,294,916 PhP
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
5,396,451.914,288 US$ / 306,712,741 PhP
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Headlines
Meta Data
Audience data is based on Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Digital News Report 2023 for the Philippines.
In the 2022 financial statement, the Nine Media Corporation did not provide a breakdown of revenues and advertisements earned by the television channel CNN Philippines and news website cnnphilippines.com.
Conversion rate on Oct. 17, 2023: PhP56.836 per US$1.
