One of the country’s top sports channels shut down its operations on Tuesday evening.
ABS-CBN S+A (Sports and Action) went off air, together with its mother channel ABS-CBN, after an order by the National Telecommunications Commission.
“Millions of Filipinos will lose their source of news and entertainment when ABS-CBN is ordered to go off-air on TV and radio tonight when people need crucial and timely information as the nation deals with the COVID-19 pandemic,” read ABS-CBN’s statement.
“This in compliance with the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) today that prohibits ABS-CBN from continuing its broadcast operations effective immediately.”
ABS-CBN S+A airs top collegiate leagues UAAP and NCAA.
Other properties of the channel are ONE Championship, MPBL, PVL, and ABL, among others.
DZMM TeleRadyo, Knowledge Channel, O Shopping, Asianovela Channel, Movie Central, Jeepney TV, and MYX all also went black at around 7:30pm.
Still up are CineMo, Yey!, and ANC.
ABS-CBN’s web portals, including sports.abs-cbn.com, will also remain online.
The network’s application renewal has been pending in Congress for quite some time now. Congress has asked the NTC to grant ABS-CBN a temporary license to continue, but the solicitor-general has denied the request, saying that if the commission does so, it will be put on trial for graft.
