ZOE Broadcasting Network

History

The frequency rights of Channel 11 under call letters DWXI-TV in Metro Manila was given to a joint venture of the influential religious groups El Shaddai headed by Mike Velarde and Jesus Is Lord Church headed by Eddie Villanueva in mid 1990s. Conflict of interests started the two groups to contest the full ownership of the company. The Philippine Congress, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives intervened and awarded to Eddie Villanueva and Jesus Is Lord Movement the right to acquire the frequency held by Channel 11. Villanueva paid Velarde for the stocks and assets held by Delta Broadcasting System (DBS).

In April 19, 1998, Jesus Is Lord Church officially launched its own TV network as ZOE TV on Channel 11 (it also changed its callsign to DZOE-TV) with ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc. as the new corporate name, it also launched the new station ID and slogan "Give Love, Celebrate Life".

In 1999, Entertainment Network (Enternet) headed by Benito Araneta and ZOE TV entered an agreement for TV airtime lease. Enternet leased the morning and afternoon block by airing CNBC Asia. After two years of airing, the two parties had disagreements on the signed contract, ZOE TV stopped airing CNBC Asia and Enternet bolted out and filed a case on Villanueva.

In 2001, ZOE TV became the first TV station to air the second EDSA Revolution. In 2004, Villanueva resigned as Chairman on ZOE TV to run for Philippine President. After ending in the last position in the election, Villanueva regained the chairmanship and continued his TV talk shows on ZOE TV.

In the first quarter of 2005, Citynet Television, a subsidiary of GMA Network, Inc., and ZOE TV entered to an agreement for Citynet leasing the entire TV airtime block of the station in exchange of an upgrading the facilities of ZOE TV and a ZOE TV program on GMA Network every Monday midnight after its Sunday primetime block.

On September 1, 2005, ZOE TV quietly went off the air on Channel 11 as GMA Network installed, upgraded and rehabilitated the transmitter and studio of ZOE TV. At the same time, Channel 11's 40kW transmitter in Ortigas was retired in favor of an upgraded 100kW transmitter facility purchased by GMA through their transmitter compound in Quezon City, with ZOE maintaining transmitter operations for Channel 11 (due to current ownership restrictions requiring only one station per broadcaster per frequency). Changes were made in preparation for a relaunch of DZOE-TV's new branding on November 11, 2005. ZOE TV, meanwhile, was relaunched on Channel 33 through its new call letters DZOZ-TV (a variant of sister station DZOE-TV). Channel 33 began using its newly constructed 30 kW transmitter tower station located at Sumulong Highway, Barangay San Roque, Antipolo City, province of Rizal, while retaining the Ortigas Center studios as its master control facility.

On November 11, 2005, GMA Network finally handled master control operations of Channel 11 and launched their new second network through ZOE TV. It started as an all-female lifestyle network QTV (Quality TeleVision) (then later renamed as simply Q on March 18, 2007), then reformatted as an all-news network GMA News TV in February 28, 2011.

In July 2006, Channel 33 began on test broadcast with its airing of job opening program Future Finder on limited broadcast hours in preparation for a relaunch of DZOZ-TV's new branding on November 27, 2006. On that day, after the series of test broadcasts, it began broadcasting, then under a blocktime agreement between ZOE and Makati-based Estima, Inc. The result of the deal was student-oriented channel UniversiTV. The channel has proven to be a hub for college and university students, catering them with evening and overnight programs everyday. By that time, it operated from 4 pm to 8 am the following day, but eventually retracted its broadcast hours until 4 am during its last few months of airing. However, on March 10, 2008, UniversiTV ceased its agreement with Channel 33, possibly due to poor ratings and lack of advertisers' support. This made ZOE TV left with almost no programming to offer, though, they aired entertainment programs in the evening and a weekday morning TeleRadyo-formatted news program under the ZTV 33 brand. UniversiTV on the other hand, was then relaunched as a Pay TV channel via satellite and cable operators, but totally ceased operations by 2010. On March 1, 2011, a day after Channel 11 was relaunched as GMA News TV, Channel 33 was rebranded as Light TV 33, introducing new programs produced by ZOE, and at the same time, the network launched its flagship newscast entitled News Light. Soon, Channel 33 regained its programming with programs mostly dedicated to religious formats. On March 31, 2014, Light TV 33 was renamed as Light Network, launched its refreshed logo, and had a new slogan called "Experience Light", while retaining the slogan "Kaibigan Mo" (Your Friend).

Digitalization

On February 28, 2017, Light Network formally ceased its broadcast operations on traditional analog terrestrial television, while on the following day, it officially launched its broadcast on digital terrestrial television, using the ISDB-T standard on Channel 33 as its frequency. Upon doing so, it became the first Philippine television station to permanently shut down their analog transmissions, as part of the transition to Digital TV. A week later, on March 6, Light Network revamped its on-air presentation to reflect the digitization completion. It also launched its slogan "Magaan dito, Kaibigan" (It's light here, Kaibigan), giving another definition to the word "light" as an easy or light-hearted experience due to its programming.

Legislative franchise renewal

On July 17, 2016, the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act No. 10888, known as "An Act Renewing for Another Twenty-Five (25) Years the Franchise Granted to ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc., Amending for the Purpose Republic Act No. 7297, Entitled “An Act Granting the ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc. a Franchise to Construct, Install, Operate and Maintain Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations Throughout the Philippines, and for Other Purposes”, as Amended by Republic Act No. 7968", granting ZOE TV a legislative franchise for its radio and television broadcast operations all throughout the country.

Cable and Satellite Operators

-And selected cable TV stations.