The ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center (also called ABS-CBN Broadcast Center; formerly known as Broadcast Plaza from 1974 to 1986 and current edifice formerly spelled officially as ABS-CBN Broadcasting Centre) is a soon-to-be-demolished original headquarters of the Filipino media and entertainment company ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiaries located at Sgt. Esguerra Avenue corner Mother Ignacia Street, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
History 1968–1972: First era under ABS-CBN The broadcasting center, conceptualized by ABS-CBN's then-President Eugenio Lopez Jr., began construction on February 24, 1967, and was opened on December 18, 1968, by then-president Ferdinand E. Marcos and then-first lady Imelda Marcos. Prior to the opening, ABS-CBN held headquarters in two separate buildings: the ABS building along Roxas Boulevard, Pasay (then in the province of Rizal) for ABS-CBN's Manila TV stations at that time (i.e. DZAQ-TV 3 and DZXL-TV 9), and the Chronicle Building along Aduana Street, Intramuros, Manila for its Manila radio stations. With the opening, ABS-CBN's radio and TV operations were housed in one building. ABS-CBN would soon sell the Roxas Boulevard studios to Kanlaon Broadcasting System or KBS (now known as Radio Philippines Network or RPN), which then took Channel 9 and prompted ABS-CBN to switch from Channels 3 and 9 to Channels 2 and 4.
When it was opened, it was the most advanced TV broadcasting facility in Asia. ABS-CBN mentioned that before Martial Law, it was once the training ground of TV electronics engineers from other countries. The new TV transmitter tower known as the Millennium Transmitter in the complex would begin beaming Channel 2 and 4's signals in 1969.
1972–1981: Martial law and takeover by KBS/RPN, BBC, GTV/MBS and the Bureau of Broadcasts
On September 21, 1972, ABS-CBN was shut down after then-President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. All of its properties, which included the Broadcast Center, were seized from the company.
The facility was not to be used again at least until RPN (then KBS until renamed it to the latter in 1975), whose first facility sold by ABS-CBN was destroyed by a fire, took over the facility in 1973. It also became home of two newly formed networks BBC which took Channel 2 and Government Television (GTV) which took Channel 4 on February 2, 1974. The facility was also renamed as Broadcast Plaza.
RPN and BBC, were all owned by Roberto Benedicto (a prominent crony of Marcos − along with IBC, in which Benedicto bought the company (including its flagship channel 13) from the Canoys, who owns RMN and the Sorianos (as Inter-Island Broadcasting Corporation) in 1975; and IBC which is still based from then town of San Juan del Monte, Rizal province (now city of San Juan, Metro Manila) at that time), and GTV was owned by the government through National Media Production Center (NMPC). Benedicto owned the facility without any compensation. The crony-owned networks used ABS-CBN's facilities without even paying the company's owners, the Lopezes, making the company's technologies gradually dilapidated, resulting in it losing its prestige as one of the most advanced broadcasting centers in Asia.
In July 1978, RPN and BBC left the Broadcast Plaza (along with IBC from San Juan del Monte) for their new home in the Broadcast City, situated in Old Balara in Quezon City, leaving GTV, which at that point was relaunched as Maharlika Broadcasting System (MBS) two years later, as the sole tenant of the facility.
In 1980, the Bureau of Broadcasts (BB), a radio network also owned by the government under the Department/Ministry of Public Information, was also transferred to Broadcast Plaza from Philippine Communications Center (PHILCOMCEN) building at the corners of ADB Avenue and Ortigas Avenue in Ortigas Center, Pasig, Metro Manila after the Office of Media Affairs was created to provide a unitary form of media for both NMPC and the BB.
In 1986, the complex was stormed by anti-Marcos rebel soldiers that attacked and took over Channel 4 under the supervision of ABS-CBN's former General Manager Augusto Almeda-Lopez. Channel 4 then went back on the air to serve the people and to broadcast the historic People Power Revolution that resulted in Ferdinand Marcos being ousted from office.
1986–1992: Housing ABS-CBN and PTV After Marcos was deposed and when Corazon Aquino became the first female president, on February 25, 1986, MBS was changed its interim name to The New TV-4 until it was officially rebranded as the People's Television Network (PTV) in April 1986 while the radio properties of NMPC and the BB were integrated to the reinstated pre-Martial Law era Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS, through the Bureau of Broadcast Services or BBS). The same year, RPN, IBC, and BBC were sequestered by the newly formed Presidential Commission on Good Government from Benedicto. BBC was dissolved and its frequencies were given to ABS-CBN, which was turned back to the Lopezes and was relaunched on September 14, 1986. RPN and IBC, on the other hand − were turned over to the government (under the Presidential Communications Group). While Channel 4 remained with PTV, Channel 2 of the former BBC was given back to ABS-CBN.
At that time, the facility was dilapidated. The technology in the facility was very old, the center was sorely lacking in tables, chairs, and telephones, there were plants growing on the compound's walls, and some of the studios' walls were even crumbling.
In January 1987, the company did get back the facility, but with an agreement with PTV (which also had to deal with the facility's outdated equipment) wherein they will share the space, splitting it 50–50 (until January 22, 1992). In just two years after reopening in 1986, ABS-CBN would soon regain ratings leadership and propel itself back to financial stability.
During the coup attempt against President Aquino on August 28, 1987, a fierce fire fight between rebel soldiers and the police raged around the compound as rebel soldiers seized PTV. Eventually, the rebels' assault was thwarted and PTV was back under the control of the government, but in the midst of the conflict, P/Sgt. Eduardo A. Esguerra of the Quezon City Police Department fell and died in the compound. A marker in his memory on the spot where he died was erected a year after the assault, and Bohol Avenue, where ABS-CBN is situated, was eventually renamed Sgt. Esguerra Avenue.
The company soon filed a case against Marcos, Benedicto, and his networks for not compensating for the usage of the broadcast technology and equipment in the facility that clearly belonged to ABS-CBN. At this point, the facility's former tenant RPN and its then-sister station IBC, once the dominant channels, both slumped in the ratings as ABS-CBN furthered its supremacy during the tail-end of the decade.
In 1988, a fire hit one of the studios in the compound, injuring a few people and slightly damaging the broadcast equipment. It was also the site of a failed military coup in 1989 that attempted to overthrow the then-current Aquino government.
DZMM, ABS-CBN's flagship AM radio station, soon moved to the Broadcast Center in 1987, along with DWRR, its flagship FM radio station. Prior to this, DZMM was once housed at the Chronicle Building (now Benpres Building) in Ortigas Center, Pasig, where it was relaunched in 1986 as a news and commentary station.
1992–1999: Second era under ABS-CBN After past five years and four months of reopening on January 22, 1992, ABS-CBN finally regained full control of the facility after both PTV and the PBS/BBS moved out of the area to a new broadcasting complex (PIA/Government Information and Media Center Building) and the new 500 ft (150 m) transmitter tower situated in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.
The company renovated the Broadcasting Center and began the long, tedious process of updating its broadcasting technology and equipment. By the end of the millennium, the Broadcast Center had become the most advanced broadcast facility in the Philippines.
2000–2025: The new millennium
In 2000, the Broadcasting Center was renovated again, with its hallways turned into a picture gallery of the stars and personalities, and the transmitter in the complex was relaunched as the Millennium Transmitter, increasing its transmitter power to 120 kilowatts.
That same year, the company moved most of its operations to the newly inaugurated Eugenio Lopez Jr. Communications Center, named in honor of the company's late chairman Eugenio Lopez Jr. It became the new home of the offices of many of the company's operations as well as four new technologically advanced studios (including Studio 10, the biggest studio in the complex, and the home of ASAP, ABS-CBN's longest-running Sunday noontime variety show). The building was accredited by PEZA as an IT zone in 2003.
The building was built mainly to suit ABS-CBN's growing demands - a result of its diversification from a broadcasting network to a media powerhouse engaging not only in radio and TV broadcasting but now also in movie production, records, merchandising, cable and UHF TV, international services, and post-production. The Broadcast Center is still being used as the headquarters for the company's news division and its nine studios are still being used by entertainment programs.
In 2003 (ABS-CBN's 50th anniversary), the National Historical Commission set up a plaque in the entrance of the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center, honouring the first TV broadcast made in the country, made by DZAQ-TV Channel 3, owned by Alto Broadcasting System, precursor of ABS-CBN.
In 2005, the Millennium Transmitter increased its power to 346.2 kilowatts (60 kW TPO), the most powerful in its history. In 2008, in honor of the 80th birthday of one of its most prized talents, the comedian Dolphy (who was with ABS-CBN for most of his showbiz career), Studio 1 was renamed as the Dolphy Theater. In 2009, the Millennium Transmitter increased its height to and was also reinforced with powerful dipole antennas replacing the cylinder antennas.
Throughout early and mid-2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the broadcasting center became the site of the commemoration following the expiration of the ABS-CBN's franchise, and the subsequent rallies and noise barrages generated by thousands of ABS-CBN employees and supporters, regarding the opposition of the verdict from the House of Representatives.
On September 6, 2022, a fire was struck inside the ABS-CBN compound. The fire reached the first alarm before it was declared out around 8:39am PST (UTC+08:00).
On September 11, 2022, the Millennium Transmitter was leased by Advanced Media Broadcasting System to air its flagship television station, All TV, after its broadcast franchise lapsed in 2020. All TV later beginning simulcasting several ABS-CBN programs since April 15, 2024, marking the return of TV Patrol and It's Showtime to their original home after four years.
On March 7, 2023, reports said that the Broadcast Center will be demolished to be sold to ABS-CBN's sister company Rockwell Land Corporation. ABS-CBN and Rockwell Land Corporation later issued respective statements confirming that while it has been exploring the redevelopment of the Broadcast Center even before the COVID-19 pandemic, no agreement has yet been reached. The statements were issued to clarify several erroneous news reports that the property has been sold to Rockwell Land for redevelopment.
2025–present: Acquisition by Ayala Land