DWCH-DTV

DWCH-DTV, virtual channel 50 (digital UHF channel 42), is an independent television station licensed to Manila, serving the Mega Manila media market. It is owned by VGC Television Stations as part of a duopoly with DWVG-DTV (channel 6, which DWCH simulcasts on its first subchannel). It is also sister to VGC Radio stations DWVG (1260), DWVG-FM (96.7), and DWMT-FM (100.7). All five stations share facilities and transmitter at the VGC Plaza in Parañaque City, while DWCH's newscasts are produced from a garden-like studio space at the Greater East Media building in Makati.
==Background==
The channel 50 frequency was first occupied by the Far East Network, a television and radio service operated by the United States military. It essentially ran as an independent station, carrying reruns of US network programs, some of which air on the Philippine terrestrial networks.
The channel 50 frequency went dark in 1991 following the departure of the US military from Clark Air Base, and the frequencies of the station as well as sister station and flagship DWFE-TV to Canadian company CHUM Limited.
==History==
Channel 50 returned on the air under CHUM's ownership in 1992 as DWCH-TV. Station management repeatedly insisted that the CH stood for channel, however some newspapers say the callsign stood for CHUM. Its sister station in Clark kept the old DWFE-TV callsign to pay homage to the defunct military broadcast service.
In April 1997, CHUM launched a television service throughout its independent stations named NewNet, similar to CHUM's own television network in Canada. However a few months later, just as the company traded television station ATV to the CTV network, CTV owner Baton Broadcasting pushed CHUM to sell its independent stations to VGC (which has a partnership with CTV, famously through the use of the W5 name on the VGC network's own newsmagazine).
The sale encouraged VGC to tap on the increasingly stronger Filipino language programming format, which was dominated by PhiNet and ABS-CBN, and rebranded NewNet as V+ in 1999. However, a lot of factors, including VGC's own decline, forced V+ off the air in 2004, and VGC sold most of its stations, including DWCH, to another Canadian company, Canwest.
Shortly after the sale to Canwest, the company modeled its new Filipino portfolio after their CH (later E!) television service. DWCH, DYCH, and DXCH even used the Global curve logo that was used on the Canadian TV network. It returned DWCH into stardom of local television, as increasingly more networks are aggregating.
However, Canwest had to sell their station group to Greater East Media in 2010 to repay some of its debt. Under GEM, the news operation, which still used elements from CH News, moved to a garden-esque studio space. DWCH later returned under VGC ownership when VGC merged its station group with GEM's television station portfolio.
==Digital television==
===Digital channels===
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
50.01 	1080i	16:9 	VGC 6 	Simulcast of DWVG-DTV / VGC
50.02 	1080i	16:9 	Eyewitness 24/7	Simulcast of DWVG-DT2 / Independent
50.03 	1080i	16:9 	DWCH News 	Main DWCH-DTV programming
50.04 	240p 	16:9 	DWCH 1seg 	1seg simulcast of DWCH-DTV
Category:Independent television stations in the Philippines
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1992
Category:Television stations in Metro Manila
Category:VGC Television Stations
Category:1992 establishments in Metro Manila
Category:Mass media in Metro Manila