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| Entrance |
I was very excited to visit
for the first time the ABS-CBN studio since it is the only local channel that I
am interested in. Truth be told, I am not that knowledgeable of any of the
shows that are being aired on the ABS-CBN channel. You can also say that I
don’t even know most of the stars that work there. What I am only acquainted
with is the news segments of the channel itself. I was more excited to visit
the studio of the news departments especially of the “TV-Patrol” where I am
more interested to go to.
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| Kapamilya Stars' Handprints |
So early in the morning, I
left in a hurry trying to surpass traffic in EDSA. When I have arrived there, I
stayed in the meeting place which was the Starbucks, where I also had my
breakfast. Another reason why I arrived ahead of schedule was that my thesis
group were to start preparing our presentation for our defence on the following
week after.
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| Hanging out at the orientation room |
Finally, upon entering the
ABS-CBN studio site, we were first brought to a small room where our guide gave
us a brief introduction and history of the ABS-CBN as well as a few reminders
and some give-aways.
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Introduction of the Tour
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I did my own research about
the company and found out many interesting facts.
ABS-CBN is a
major Filipino commercial television network owned and
operated by the Filipino media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation, a
publicly traded company. It is the country's leading television network as well
as among the first commercial television networks in Asia. Its
headquarters is in Quezon City with regional offices and news bureaus
in over 25 provincial areas throughout the country. Today the flagship
terrestrial television channel in Mega Manila is DWWX-TV (VHF channel
2). The network operates terrestrially through the Regional Network
Group with its 25 fully owned originating television stations, 35
strategically located relay stations and 8 affiliate network making it the
largest terrestrial television network in the country. It is also seen
worldwide on cable television and direct-to-home satellite. The network is also
set for digital broadcasting and just waiting for the permission from
the NTC. ABS-CBN has advertising revenues amounted to 17.5 billion pesos for
the year 2011.
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| Studio 6: ANC |
Finally, the first news
studio we visited was that of “ANC”. The first thing I noticed about the studio
was that it has numerous monitors used as background props and that the room
was well lit. They were using special spotlights to highlight the news anchors
and other people in the room. Inside the studio, it was also my first time to
see at first-hand the type of cameras they were using. The camera they used has
a special type of output lens in which it can simultaneously record as well as
show live scripts for the reporters to read to without interrupting the
recording. This also lets the reporter directly face the camera while also
reading his/her script.
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| ANC Newsroom |
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| Cameras used in ANC |
During the tour, I was really
excited to know that we are now approaching the studio for “TV Patrol” where I
can see the actual area the reporters are broadcasting the news. However, it
was very unfortunate that the tour cannot enter the area since is already being
prepared for the day’s live broadcast and that we cannot just walk through
during the time.
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| Broadcasting Facilities |
One other area we also
visited was the antenna tower and the transmitter station of the ABS-CBN
compound. Sadly, we cannot take pictures inside because of some security
reasons. The antenna tower is directly located above the station itself where
it houses different microwave antennas. Inside the transmitter station, we saw
different broadcasting equipment used for the transmitting processes. These
equipment are used for multiplexing, decoding, recording, and of course
transmitting. The electrician present at the time explained to us the process
in which the transmission of the information they gather are being processed
and that this data come from other stations and facilities inside the compound.
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| Antenna Tower |
Afterwards, the last visit of
the tour was the recording, editing, and archiving facilities. These are all
located inside another building inside the compound in which these tasks of
managing the videos to be broadcasted are being processed. It is also unfortunate
that we also cannot take pictures inside because of their regulations. They
manage different shows on different time intervals and coordinate it with other
shows for airing schedules. The editing of the videos includes the insertion of
commercials and other information from different shows or channels. When we got
to the archiving section, I first noticed that they were still using tapes and
not CDs or hard drives. Though some of their records are indeed saved in CDs
and hard drives, tapes are used for their equipment and some restrictions.
Either way, they are still able to deliver quality broadcasting for
televisions.
