Cinema One: Plenty at 20

MANILA, Philippines - During the infancy days of cable television in the Philippines in 1994, there was a channel called Sky1 that comprised stock market and senate reports and Tagalog movies. That was to be the precursor of Cinema One, today’s No. 1 cable channel in the Philippines.

Cinema One channel head Ronald Arguelles remembers those days fondly when their small staff crowded in a modest office in the Jusmag Compound on Scout Borromeo. In 1998, ABS-CBN acquired Sky1 from SkyCable; the news component spun off to a separate cable channel that was eventually called Sarimanok Network News (SNN) and then ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC). The movie component also spun off to a separate cable channel called Pinoy Blockbuster.

Pinoy Blockbuster was the Filipino cinephile’s dream tambayan. It gave viewers access to Tagalog movies 24/7. Evidently, it was a platform for showing movies produced by ABS-CBN’s film production arm Star Cinema. But the channel showed other films that eventually reached iconic status because they cultivated a cult following. Some of these movies were not popular when they were first shown in commercial theaters, but thanks to Pinoy Blockbuster, they enjoyed a rebirth and a new generation of admirers.

Ronald says, “These include classics like Salawahan by director Ishmael Bernal, Temptation Island by Joey Gosiengfiao, the Danny Zialcita-directed films and even the Pido Dida series starring Kris Aquino and Rene Requiestas.”

In 2001, the Pinoy Blockbuster channel was renamed Cinema One, further paving the way for its rise.

“The new name was a brainchild of then ABS-CBN president Freddie Garcia,” Ronald reveals.

Alongside the change came a more aggressive approach to market the channel to viewers and get advertiser support. “These were difficult to do at the start,” Ronald admits.

Cinema One got a big boost through revitalized programming. These efforts included the production of local shows, innovative marketing strategies, acquisition of films that would greatly appeal to the audience and creation of new content.

Cinema One initiated groundbreaking shows that profiled celebrities (Numero Uno), gave a behind-the-scenes look into moviemaking (Take One) and highlighted the craft of acting and moviemaking (Inside the Cinema and Inside the Cinema Circle).

The channel was also the first to have outdoor screenings that thoroughly delighted viewers and emphasized its brand and identity as a haven for lovers of Filipino films.

Yet probably the biggest endeavor that Cinema One has done is the Cinema One Originals, the flagship competition and film festival of the channel that is now on its 10th year. Ronald says, “In 2005, we leveraged on the rise of digital filmmaking and took advantage of the technology to encourage new works.”

In the process, Cinema One helped launch the careers of directors like Adolf Alix Jr., Jerrold Tarog, Antoinette Jadaone, Richard Somes, Lawrence Fajardo and many others who make up the new breed of Filipino auteurs. Cinema One Originals also gave mainstream stars like Angelica Panganiban, Jericho Rosales, Lovi Poe opportunities to explore their artistic inclinations further. The festival also helped spur the growth of regional cinema with films like Huling Balyan ng Buhi, Di Ingon Na ‘To and many others.

Since 2011, Cinema One’s subscriber base has grown immensely. It has stayed in the No. 1 spot as the most watched cable channel in the Philippines, beating foreign and local cable channels.

In the future, viewers can expect Cinema One to be more exciting. Ronald declares, “We’ve been dubbing international films like Mother from Korea, Shaolin Soccer from China to Tagalog… We’re planning to produce a series… We’ve launched Cinema One on high definition. We will constantly improve and innovate for our viewers.”

True to its tagline “Laging kasama,” Cinema One over the years has and will continue to go with the changing times and remain relevant to the Filipino film lover and Filipino movie industry for the next 20 years and beyond.