Broadcast chronology
Launched on June 1, 1970, it became one of the most watched English language newscasts on Philippine TV alongside The World Tonight of ABS-CBN and The Big News of ABC (now TV5). It is dubbed as the "First TV Newspaper" in the Philippines. Prior to 2008, it produced some spin-offs and like:
- RPN NewsWatch Balita Ngayon, a Filipino-language early evening newscast.
- RPN NewsWatch sa Umaga, morning spin-off of the newscast.
- RPN NewsWatch sa Tanghali, first Tagalog noontime newscast from 1994 to 2000, anchored by Angelique Lazo and Rolly "Lakay" Gonzalo.
- RPN NewsWatch Junior Edition, first children and youth spin-off of the newscast that aired from 1979 to 1988.
- RPN NewsWatch Evening Cast, first English-language early evening newscast anchored by Cathy Santillan, then it was anchored by Cielo Villaluna and Cristina Pecson; later with Buddy Lopa. It was also the first newscast from 1970 to 1999. From 1999 to 2000, it was named as RPN NewsWatch Primetime Edition.
- RPN NewsWatch Prime Cast, a late night edition also anchored by Harry Gasser, Cathy Santillan, Dodi Lacuna, Lulu Pascual, Mike Toledo and Coco Quisumbing and later Eric Eloriaga (Eloriaga, who is known for his very strong American English accent, also anchored rival newscast The Big News on ABC).
- RPN NewsWatch Now, replacement of Primetime Balita aired from August 20, 2001 to March 9, 2007.
- RPN Jr. NewsWatch, second youth spin-off that aired in 2005.
- RPN Aksyon Balita, later NewsWatch Aksyon Balita, successor of NewsWatch from April 17, 2006 to January 4, 2008, first anchored by Erwin Tulfo, Aljo Bendijo, Connie Sison, Jake Morales, Vikki Sambilay and Bobby Yan.
- RPN i-Watch News, replacement of NewsWatch Now anchored by former 103.5 K-Lite disc jockey Carlo Tirona, and Aryana Lim, who was replaced by Lexi Schulze after a few months. It aired from March 12, 2007 to January 11, 2008.
On July 3, 2000, NewsWatch made its one-year absence on television due to low ratings because of the premiere of the network's only Filipino-language late-afternoon newscasts RPN Arangkada Xtra Balita and late-night newscast Primetime Balita . It was during that time, that some television networks start airing late-night newscasts in Filipino-language from the last year of the 20th century. But Primetime Balita was replaced by RPN NewsWatch Now and returning its English-language news reporting on August 20, 2001, until its final broadcast on March 9, 2007. On January 7, 2008, when Solar Entertainment channel C/S started to air on free-TV, it went back on the air replacing RPN NewsWatch Aksyon Balita. It was anchored by the network's president and chief executive officer, former Defense secretary and senator Orly Mercado and the News and Public Affairs department manager Marigold Haber-Dunca. Because of Mercado's advocacy on being an environmentalist, the background are all adorned with plants On January 14, 2008, its late-night spin-off was aired as RPN NewsWatch Second Edition. This broadcast was anchored by Jay Esteban and Queen Sebastian. It also started to air on cable on all frequencies occupying C/S. The network's hourly news updates was renamed as NewsWatch Update until February 25, 2011.
The show was reformatted into a reality show between June 7, 2008, and August 16, 2008. On October 11, 2008, another version was premiered, entitled RPN NewsWatch Junior Edition with the contestants of the show anchoring it. This was the third youth spin-off of the RPN NewsWatch; the previous two were RPN NewsWatch Kids Edition (1979 to 1993) and RPN Jr. NewsWatch (2005).
On October 8, 2008, broadcasts covering of the games of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was started. These were broadcast to coincide with the second half of the game on Wednesday and Friday. This coverage had ended since 2011 when RPN lost its PBA broadcasting rights to Studio 23 (and later to TV5, A2Z and RPTV)
On February 16, 2009, former ABS-CBN news anchor and beauty queen Joyce Burton-Titular replaced Orly Mercado as anchor. Mercado was then able to focus on his duties as the network's president and CEO.
On November 30, 2009, Radio Philippines Network (RPN) relaunched as Solar TV. Broadcast times were changed from 30 minutes to 60 minutes duration. From the usual twice a day times of 5:30 pm and 11:00 pm, it became once a day at 5:30 pm and Reema Chanco was engaged as an additional anchor. RPN NewsCap replaced RPN NewsWatch Second Edition and started airing at midnight. In 2010, the timeslot was moved to 11:30 in the evening. It also continued to air on both free TV and on cable until February 25, 2011.
On March 2, 2011, after Solar Entertainment bought 34% stake in RPN, RPN relaunched as ETC. Alongside RPN NewsCap, RPN NewsWatch started to air only on free TV on that date at 5 pm as ETC had occupied the RPN frequency on all cable providers nationwide. But, it is still being managed to air only through Global Destiny Cable (now Destiny Cable, owned by Sky Cable) on channel 116, which was the frequency occupied by The Game Channel, a channel of Solar TV Network, occupying the 5:00 pm timeslot. On August 15, 2011, the two newscasts began to air on BEAM TV Channel 31 as The Game Channel was simulcast on that channel. Its simulcast on that channel stopped in October 2011.
After a total of 11,024 episodes in 42 years, on October 29, 2012, RPN NewsWatch and RPN NewsCap were axed due to the impending privatization of the network and the controversial retrenchment of some employees of the network. However, RPN NewsWatch is still used by RPN's provincial AM radio arm Radyo Ronda for its newscasts. [1] [2]
Revival (2024)
The NewsWatch brand was reactivated on July 1, 2024, as NewsWatch Plus, a digital news and lifestyle media service. The news service was created by Nine Media Corporation together with RPN's indirect parent company Broadreach Media Holdings and is independently managed by former CNN Philippines staff and correspondents which were absorbed by Broadreach Media following the closure of the channel and the dissolution of its news department on January 31, 2024. [3] The digital news channel currently produces daily news bulletins (NewsWatch Live) and a 15-minute primetime newscast (NewsWatch Now) through YouTube and X accounts formerly used by CNN Philippines. It is currently airing archives of public affairs content through RPTV (the terrestrial successor channel of the former, jointly run by RPN/Nine Media and TV5 Network), and as primetime block on its sister station Aliw Channel 23 since August 12; on July 3, 2024, NewsWatch Plus announced that it would produce new episodes for its programs and provide access to CNN Philippines archives for subscribers. [4]
