Product type Digital Set-Top Box Produced by Atlanta DTH, Inc. Markets Philippines | Owner ABS-CBN Convergence Country Philippines | |
Introduced 2011 (free trial)
February 11, 2015 (commercial release) | ||
ABS-CBN TV Plus (formerly Sky TV+ or simply TV+ and stylized as ABS-CBN TVplus) is a digital terrestrial television product and service owned and operated by ABS-CBN Convergence, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN. The service distributes digital set-top boxes, as well as freemium digital TV channels, Broadcast Markup Language, Emergency Warning Broadcast system, and pay per view services to select areas in the Philippines. In order to avail the service, users must buy an ABS-CBN TVplus set-top box and activate it through SMS. As of November 2016, ABS-CBN TVplus has sold over 2 million units of its set-top boxes.
Contents
History
ABS-CBN Corporation initially applied for a license from the National Telecommunications Commission to operate a digital terrestrial television service in the country back in 2007. ABS-CBN planned to utilize multiplex to offer ABS-CBN, the former Studio 23 (now S+A), and 5 additional specialty TV channels. The conglomerate is expecting to spend around 1 billion pesos annually for the next 5 years for their DTT transition. ABS-CBN utilized UHF channel 51 Manila (695.143 MHz), later UHF Channel 43 (647.143 MHz), for test broadcasts in the DVB-T format. ABS-CBN was expected to begin digital test broadcasts in January 2009.
In June 2010, the NTC announced that it would formally adopt the Japanese standard ISDB-T for digital broadcasting and issued a circular for commanding the entire country's television networks to switch-off their analog services on 31 December 2015 at 11:59 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (UTC+8). But due to a delay by the release of the implementing rules and regulations for digital television broadcast, the target date was moved to 2020.
In April 2011, ABS-CBN announced further details about its DTT plans, which will offer ABS-CBN and Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action). Five new channels will be exclusively available to its digital users which will be offered once the digital broadcast starts. The specialty TV channel line-up includes one news channel, two youth-oriented channels, an educational channel, and a movie channel. ABS-CBN is also planning to utilize the 1seg (one segment) broadcast standard for handheld devices.
The set-top box, then known as TV+, was previewed on ABS-CBN's morning show Umagang Kay Ganda on March 22, 2012 where they offered free samples to their studio audiences. Since then, until its official launch, TV+ was distributed as a prize for the quiz segment of DZMM's "Failon Ngayon sa DZMM" and the "Ang Mahiwagang Blackbox" (The Magical Blackbox).
On December 18, 2014, the National Telecommunications Commission issued the implementing rules and regulations for digital terrestrial television broadcast in the country. ABS-CBN Corporation officially launched ABS-CBN TVplus on February 11, 2015 through a ceremonial switch-on at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center.
In July 2015, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) signed a memorandum of agreement with ABS-CBN for the inclusion of the Emergency Warning Broadcast system (EWBS) in ABS-CBN TVplus. The feature was activated during the Metro Manila Wide Shake Drill held on the 30th of July through an over-the-air update.
In March 2016, a new version of the set-top box with a slimmer and stylish design was released. The new version has HDMI port and the interface was upgraded to support HDTV. The new version has also a faster processor than its predecessor.
In May 2016, TV Plus was awarded two bronze Stevies for Best in New Product Innovation and Best in Branded Development in the 2016 Asia Pacific Stevie Awards.
Channel lineup
Cine Mo!, Yey!, Knowledge Channel, DZMM TeleRadyo, and Kapamilya Box Office are encrypted and scrambled with Multi2-based encryption, because of that, activation is needed to unscramble those channels via SMS. In addition, all non-encrypted digital terrestrial TV channels broadcast within the area of the household will also be carried.