RBS1

RBS1 is a Philippine free-to-air television network owned and operated by SRBS Television Operations, a division of SRBS Corporation. RBS' flagship TV station is DWRB-TV, which carries the UHF channel 42 digital feed. The network is headquartered at the RBS Broadcast Plaza in Brgy. South Triangle at Panay Avenue, Quezon City.

Besides from free TV, RBS also simulcasts its programming on its over-the-top streaming platform, RBS Catch.

Prior History
The channel 24 frequency, originally under DWTT-TV call letters in Metro Manila, was granted to a joint venture between Trident Television Philippines and the Seville Broadcasting Network. Disputes between the two resulted in both companies wanting a full control of Channel 24’s stake. With the intervention of the Philippine Congress, The RBS Company (now SRBS Corporation) was instead awarded the station in 1988. Trident then declared bankruptcy a year later.

Regions TV-24 (1989-2000)
DWRB-TV Channel 24 was launched in 1989 as Regions TV-24 after being acquired from Trident Television Philippines by RBS Television Studios (present-day SRBS Television Operations). Its callsign and corporate entity were renamed to reflect the channel’s existence. Regions TV-24 broadcast independently with news and current affairs, movies, and RBS-produced series, as well as an amount of infomercial blocks, serving as an alternative to the major television networks that occupy the remainder of the VHF channel band. From its inception, Regions occupies an office space, studio and master control equipment, and transmitter room at the newly-built RBS Transmission Bldg. (now RBS Broadcast Plaza) along Quezon City.

TV Marikina/TVM/Mega Manila Television (2000-2014)
In February 2000, Marikina Broadcasting Company and Regions TV-24 entered to an agreement for Mari Broadcom leasing the entire TV airtime block of the station in exchange of upgrading Regions TV’s facilities and RBS distributing its in-house programs to its cable network’s airtime. Mari Broadcom has been developing a revival of its sister television network through its subsidiary, Majora Productions, after its last stint as an affiliate of NBA in 1994 but closed down in 1996 due to financial problems. And although Majora has its own sister station in Mega Manila through DZMP-TV channel 50 (launched in 1989), while its regional stations are cleared for reactivation, the station’s old transmitter was degraded and its signal could not reach to areas normally received by Mari Broadcom’s flagship cable television network. The agreement was believed to be seen as Mari Broadcom’s only alternative at that time to make sure there will be no significant loss of household viewership in the market once the sister TV network is revived.

On July 1, 2000, channel 24 quietly went off the air as Mari Broadcom installed, upgraded and rehabilitated the transmitter and studio facilities of Regions TV-24. At the same time, Channel 24’s original 45 kW transmitter in Quezon City was decommissioned in favour of an upgraded 70 kW unused transmitter facility purchased by Mari Broadcom that was meant to be used for their channel 50, with RBS maintaining the license and transmitter operations for the station (due to current ownership restrictions requiring only one station per broadcaster per frequency).

On August 11, 2000, after a series of test broadcasts, Mari Broadcom/Majora finally handled master control operations of channel 24 and launched their new second TV network through Regions TV. It started as an all-anime channel AniTV (Anime Television; later renamed as AniVision on May 12, 2002), then it was reformatted as news and public affairs channel Mega Manila Television on January 25, 2012. For 20 years, channel 24’s latest brands are considered as joint ventures, with RBS and Mari Broadcom working together to reach millions of households in different factors of operation. In exchange, RBS’ in-house programs are required to be aired on the both AniVision and MMTV every day before signing-off and after signing-on; Mari Broadcom also airs these programs on weekend during off-peak times.

Termination of agreement and temporary suspension of broadcast (2014-2020)
On June 13, 2014, Mari Broadcom announced that it won't renew its blocktime contract with SRBS Television Operations after reports that its lease payment for channel 24 increased over the past 5 years.

Channel 24 aired its final broadcast on August 31, 2014, thanking its viewers for tuning in. Mari Broadcom transferred some of its programming to Mega Manila Television, while others were cancelled as channel 24 ended broadcasting. Channel 24 would soon sign off at the evening of September 1, with one final goodbye, then the lowering of its signal, which brought the network off-air for the last time at 12:22 am.

Return to independent broadcasting; test broadcast (2020)
Before DWRB-TV returned on the air, Richard Daniels, the chairman of SRBS Corporation at that time, laid out the company's plans to operate a BBC-esque television channel in the Philippines. With the continuing growth of digital television in the country, it was their opportunity to take over both the analogue and digital spectrums. SRBS Television Operations general manager, Eugene Garcia, contacted the main offices of the BBC for assistance.

The launch of their over-the-top streaming platform, CATCH+, was their strategy in order to get people attracted to the new channel 24, the same channel that bid farewell to its loyal viewers four years ago.

On March 30, 2020, DWRB-TV returned on the air on test broadcast, airing a selection of their original programming. This happened the day after the over-the-top streaming platform, CATCH+, was launched by SRBS Television Operations. Viewers have speculated that Mari Broadcom's programming would soon return on the network as well, but this was later proven to be a hoax.

Two months after the initial test broadcasts of DWRB-TV, SRBS Television Operations announced that they would relaunch UHF channel 24 with an all-new programming, and it would also include programmes from PanverseTV. Shows from ABS-CBN were also considered to be shopped to air on DWRB-TV as well, just days after the network's franchise was expired.

Digital Milestone Project (2022-2023)
On February 11, 2022, SRBS Television Operations announced its Digital Milestone Project, which aims to migrate all of its originating and relay stations to digital television. At the SRBS annual stockholders' meeting last week, the current chairman of SRBS Corporation, Rodolfo Rivera, said that the project will be a big step towards the modernisation of Philippine television and as a preparation for the 35th anniversary of the channel 24 frequency."Despite the pandemic that we're still experiencing, we are slowly going back to normal and we'll continue to do so in the coming months. We are currently working with a lot of people who are working from home. We are committed to serving the people, even at these tough times."As of March 13, 2023, all 36 SRBS owned and operated regional networks have made the switch to digital.

Franchise renewal and rebrand (2023)
On February 11, 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. signed Republic Act 11322 which renewed RBS' license for another 25 years. The law granted SRBS Corporation, RBS' parent company, a franchise to construct, install, operate, and maintain, for commercial purposes, radio broadcasting stations and television stations, including digital television system, with the corresponding facilities such as relay stations, throughout the Philippines.

On March 6, 2023, SRBS Corporation rebranded the main channel, RBS, to RBS1 which was planned to be used during its transition to digital and the launch of RBS2 as a digital subchannel. The rebrand was carried out as part of a campaign to encourage viewers to switch over to digital in order to watch more RBS channels (particularly RBS3 and RBS4).