On April 11, 1962, at 7:30 pm, the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), through its subsidiary, the Metropolitan Broadcasting Company, launched its TV station, DZRH-TV on VHF channel 11.[1] On January 9, 1972, MBC inaugurated its new building for the TV station with President Ferdinand Marcos attended the ceremony.[2] However, a few months later on September 23, 1972, the government forced the TV station along with DZRH AM 650 and other assets of the company to cease operations at the wake of the declaration of martial law by Marcos. The status of the pre-martial law program archives of channel 11 is unknown.
Failed bid of restoration
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, MBC attempted channel 11 frequency to bring it back on the air; however in January 1992, the NTC disqualified them for a VHF frequency application because the agency found MBC as they are "not legally, technically and financially qualified to operate the station."[3] As a result, the channel 11 frequency license was eventually acquired by El Shaddai-led Delta Broadcasting System, Inc. in 1995, with the frequency's new callsign DWXI-TV. DBS later moved to channel 35, when ZOE Broadcasting Network (through its head Jesus Is Lord Church leader Brother Eddie Villanueva) bought the channel 11 spot from DBS in 1998 and became DZOE-TV, which was occupied by GMA News TV (formerly ZOE TV and QTV/Q), but discontinued operations since June 5, 2019, due to the blocktime agreement between ZOE Broadcasting Network and GMA Network was not renewed, so GMA News TV was moved to DWDB-TV Channel 27 (now renamed as GTV since February 22, 2021), for the remainder of the analog transmission run, then Channel 11 became affiliated with ABS-CBN as A2Z, 5 months after channel 2's shutdown due to a cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission for an expired franchise on May 5, 2020, and their frequencies were later recalled, with channel 2's frequency taken over by AMBS' All TV.
Ironically, MBC was one of the two remaining pre-Martial Law TV operators who did not revive at the height of the sequestrations that were done months after the 1986 Revolution, along with ABC-5, that did not yet resume until commencing test broadcasts in 1991 and relaunching the following year with different calls, DWET-TV; and a different corporate name, Associated Broadcasting Company, instead of keeping the original Corporation and its original calls, DZTM-TV during the pre-martial law years; as a result of the new management under Edward Tan that took over upon the revival of Channel 5.
MBC returned to TV, albeit on cable as TV Natin in 2007 and is currently branded as DZRH News Television. MBC regards the cable channel as a linear descendant of the original TV 11.
Proposal plan of revival on digital television
In February 2024, MBC Media Group revealed plans to revive the station, this time on Digital Terrestrial Television, as the company ventures into a multimedia chain. Currently, it became initially available in Visayas Region (Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu only) under Test Broadcast phase and the platform has yet to start digital TV operations in Mega Manila and nearby provinces.[4]
