Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation

Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) is a Philippine VHF television network of the Government Communications Group headed by the Press Secretary. Its studios are located at Broadcast City, Old Balara, Capitol Hills, Diliman, Quezon City and its transmitter is located at the Coca Cola plant, Roosevelt Avenue, San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City. It is one of three government-owned and controlled television stations, along with Radio Philippines Network.

Beginnings as Inter-Island 13
Channel 13 started broadcasts in 1961 under Inter-Island Broadcasting Corporation thru the tri-media conglomerate of RMN-IBC-Philippine Herald owned by the late Andres Soriano. The station also broadcasts in Cebu and Davao. In the 1970s, IBC launches the color transmission named "Vinta Color" named after the Vintas from Zamboanga, the third network in the Philippines to convert to all-color broadcasts.

Dick Baldwin was the station's first owner, and programming first consisted of mostly foreign programs from CBS, and a few local shows. Andres would only acquire the channel in 1962.

Relaunch as Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation
On February 1, 1975, Inter-Island 13 split off from the Sorianos, owners of RMN and was renamed Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) and moved to Benedicto Group of Companies by the late Roberto S. Benedicto (1916–2000), who purchased the network consisting of the Manila station and other relay stations in Cebu and Davao. IBC also opened its FM station DWKB-FM the same year. In 1976, IBC metamorphosed into one of the country's most viewed TV network with its primetime lineup and full length local and foreign films aired on this channel. This catapulted IBC in the number one slot among 4 rival networks.

Through the sweat of its employees and the income generated from its programs, the network built and finally moved into its present home at the modern Broadcast City, in 1977. The complex was a 55,000 square metre tract located at Capitol Hills, Diliman, Quezon City.

Post-EDSA Revolution
After the EDSA revolution, IBC was sequestered by the government. A board of administrators was created to run the station. All of the stocks and assets of IBC, and its sister networks RPN-9 and BBC-2 were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

President Corazon Aquino turned over IBC and RPN to the Government Communications Group and awarded BBC through an executive order to ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation. When BBC closed down, IBC absorbed majority of its displaced employees, thus doubled the operating expenses of the network. Cost of programs went up three-fold. Line-produced shows and co-production ventures with some big film companies like Viva, Regal, and Seiko were favored. The top rated shows of IBC were pirated by rival networks. Cost of programs, talent fees and TV rights increased tremendously. IBC could no longer afford to produce its own shows. In 1987, IBC 13 was named also E-13 for the first time and its slogan Life Begins at 13 noted for the butterfly logo in the form of the letter E and the number 13. In 1989, E13 renamed back to IBC 13.

IBC took on a new image at the same year, Pusong Pinoy, Pusong Trese, to recapture the glory days it once had. But because of the sequestration, periodic change of management and the internal problems, the network started to lose the support from its advertisers.

Islands TV-13
Islands Broadcasting Corporation under Mr. Tonyboy Cojuangco took over the management and the marketing of IBC (which came to be known as Islands TV-13) in 1990. It was in the later part of its operations that ratings and income suffered due to mismanagement which caused labor unrest.

Return of Operations
In 1992, IBC return to air and became a 100% government owned station by virtue of a compromise agreement between PCGG and Roberto Benedicto, management and marketing were returned to the IBC Board of Directors. The programming remained at a standstill in preparation for the launching of a new image of the station.

It was 1994 when IBC launched Pinoy Ang Dating with a Filipino-like visually enticing music video (with Grace Nono as the composer and singer of the same song), an innovation in terms of station identification. Despite limited resources, programming improved but the battle for audience share continued. Advertisers became more responsive to marketing efforts. The said ident won the Gawad CCP Award for Best Station Identification in the said year.

Vintage Television (VTV), later merged with Viva Television in 2000, entered the scene in 1996 with PBA Games as its major program and continued until 2002. Rehabilitation of the transmitter and other technical facilities where initiated in the central and provincial stations. Viva Main Event is its only program which still airs in IBC until now. It is now part of its new programming block AKTV, making Viva Sports own a mere 20% of the block.

In 2003, IBC launched its new logo and the new slogan Ang Bagong Pilipino with a freestyle station ID.

In late 2007, IBC Management inked a deal with the Makisig Network, led by Hermie Esguerra. Makisig was accepted as a primetime block-timer of IBC. However, Makisig Network's programs were not aired due to questions on the propriety of the terms and conditions of the agreement. Said agreement expired in October 2008.

Abandonment and privatization
After four decades of serving the network's dominance and entertainment programing, IBC-13's studios and facilities are abandoned due to negligence and their network's mismanagement. However, their studio equipment, cameras, lighting and props are useless, dilapidated and very old, cash and budgets were cut short and cannot afford to utilize radio-TV operations, their programing and airtime were lost after suffering them from a network war in the late 1980s and the 1990s and many employees lost their jobs. But the management tries to revive the ill-fated network but it failed thereafter in the 2000s.

There were many plans to sell and privatize IBC and its sister station RPN. TV network ABS-CBN was planning to buy the network's blocktime to address signal problems and mimic the former's programs. However, ABS-CBN could not join the privatization bid due to ownership regulations.

IBC has entered into a joint venture agreement with Prime Realty, an affiliate of R-II Builders Group of Reghis Romero Jr. The agreement called for the development of 3.5 hectares of Broadcast City. With this joint venture agreement with a private business enterprise, the Aquino administration expressed its desire to privatize both RPN and IBC and retain the People's Television (PTV) as a sole-mandated government TV network.

It has been announced that conglomerate San Miguel Corporation will join the government-sponsored bidding for the privatization of RPN and IBC.

Relaunch
IBC signed a blocktime agreement with TV5's sports division Sports5 to air live sports coverage via its new programming block AKTV. It was launched last June 5, 2011, with the AKTV Run held outside SM Mall of Asia in Bay City, Pasay.

At the same day, IBC launched a new logo & slogan Where the Action Is! to reflect the change.

However, in a statement released in April 11, 2013, MediaQuest chairman Manny Pangilinan announced that AKTV will no longer renew the blocktime agreement in May due to high costs., and there has been doubts about the future of the network. However, according to a news article dated September 26, 2012, IBC president Eric Canoy hinted that in pursuant to AO 26 which restored its archives, hopefully IBC could reair them by the end of this year as IBC Classics.