Early years
The Vera family, under the aegis of Quest Broadcasting head attorney Jose Luis Vera, established Advanced Media Broadcasting System in 1994, with its Congressional franchise granted the following year. [1] With the help of Jinji Buhain (niece of then-Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Buhain), AMBS bought 103.5 DWCS from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila and changed its callsign to DWKX which gave the birth of adult contemporary station K-Lite. The station, along with four other Vera-controlled Metro Manila stations (Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9 and 99.5 RT) and the Killerbee provincial network, formed The Radio Partners in the early 2000s before being reorganized in 2011 under the new Tiger 22 Media group.
Under Villar ownership
In 2019, AMBS was granted a 25-year legislative franchise extension under Republic Act No. 11253, albeit without President Rodrigo Duterte's signature as the bill lapsed into law after 30 days of inaction. [2] [3] The Vera family and AMBS president Andrew Santiago, however, decided to sell the company to Planet Cable of real estate magnate and businessman-politician Manny Villar after its FM station (K-Lite) was in the red due the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. [4] [5]
On January 5, 2022, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), under the leadership of Gamaliel Cordoba, awarded AMBS a provisional authority to operate for the digital Channel 16 frequency (previously assigned to ABS-CBN Corporation) for an eighteen-month test broadcast period; and for the analog Channel 2 frequency under a temporary assignment for simulcast purposes until analog shut-off in 2023. [6] [7] The construction of AMBS's own digital terrestrial television network in Metro Manila was expected to be completed in July 2022. [8] [9]
AMBS Manila began its test broadcast in June 2022. [10] On September 1, TV host Willie Revillame announced that the TV station of AMBS will be named as All TV. Initially targeted on October 1, 2022, [11] All TV made its soft launch on September 13, 2022, with plans of expanding it nationwide by the end of the year. On July 15, 2022, during his contract signing with AMBS, Revillame announced that his variety show Wowowin would air on All TV. [12] In February 2023, all the original programs of All TV have been canceled or put on hiatus due to various reasons. [13] [14] [15]
In January 2024, management and control of AMBS and its stations were transferred from Paolo Villar's Prime Asset Ventures Inc. to Camille Villar's All Value Holdings Inc. In April 2024, AMBS entered into an acquired agreement with ABS-CBN Corporation to broadcast a selected number of current and previous ABS-CBN programs on All TV. [16] [17] [18] [19] The channel is also simulcasting the new version of Goin' Bulilit . [20] [21]
