Launched on June 1, 1970, it became one of the most watched English language newscasts on Philippine TV alongside
The World Tonight of ABS-CBN,
TV-13 News of IBC and
The Big News of ABC (now TV5). It is dubbed as the "First TV Newspaper" in the Philippines. Prior to 2008, it produced some spin-offs such as: •
NewsWatch Balita Ngayon, a Filipino-language early evening newscast. •
NewsWatch sa Umaga, morning spin-off of the newscast. •
NewsWatch sa Tanghali, first Tagalog noontime newscast from 1994 to 2000, anchored by Angelique Lazo and Rolly "Lakay" Gonzalo. •
NewsWatch Junior Edition, first children and youth spin-off of the newscast that aired from 1979 to 1988. •
NewsWatch Evening Cast, first English-language early evening newscast anchored by Cathy Santillan, then it was anchored by Cielo Villaluna and Cristina Peczon; and later who was replaced by Marigold Haber and Buddy Lopa. It was also the first newscast from 1970 to 1999. From 1999 to 2000, it was named
NewsWatch Primetime Edition. •
NewsWatch Prime Cast, a late night edition anchored by
Harry Gasser, Cathy Santillan, Dody Lacuna, Lulu Pascual, Mike Toledo, and Coco Quisumbing and later Eric Eloriaga (Eloriaga, who is known for his very strong American English accent, also anchored rival newscast
The Big News on ABC). •
NewsWatch Now, replacement of
Primetime Balita aired from August 13, 2001 to March 9, 2007. •
RPN Jr. NewsWatch, second youth spin-off that aired in 2005. •
RPN Aksyon Balita, later
NewsWatch Aksyon Balita, successor of
NewsWatch from April 17, 2006 to January 4, 2008, first anchored by
Erwin Tulfo,
Aljo Bendijo,
Connie Sison (all former ABS-CBN News talents), Jake Morales, Vikki Sambilay, and Bobby Yan. •
i-Watch News, replacement of
NewsWatch Now anchored by former
103.5 K-Lite disc jockey Carlo Tirona, and Aryana Lim, who was replaced by Lexi Schulze after a few months. It aired from March 12, 2007, to January 11, 2008. On July 3, 2000,
NewsWatch made its one-year absence on television due to low ratings because of the premiere of the network's only Filipino-language late-afternoon newscasts
Arangkada Xtra Balita and late-night newscast
Primetime Balita. It was during that time that some television networks started airing late-night newscasts in Filipino-language from the last year of the 20th century. But
Primetime Balita was replaced by
NewsWatch Now and returning its English-language news reporting on August 13, 2001, until its final broadcast on March 9, 2007. On January 7, 2008, when Solar Entertainment channel
C/S started to air on free-TV, it went back on the air replacing
NewsWatch Aksyon Balita. It was anchored by the network's president and chief executive officer, former
Defense secretary and senator
Orly Mercado and the News and Public Affairs department manager Marigold Haber-Dunca. Because of Mercado's environmental advocacy, the background was adorned with plants On January 14, 2008, its late-night spin-off was aired as
NewsWatch Second Edition. This broadcast was anchored by Jay Esteban and Queen Sebastian. It also started to air on cable on all frequencies occupying
C/S. The network's hourly news bulletins was renamed as
NewsWatch Update until February 25, 2011. The show was reformatted into a reality show between June 7, 2008, and August 16, 2008. On October 11, 2008, another version was premiered, entitled
NewsWatch Junior Edition with the contestants of the show anchoring it. This was the third youth spin-off of the
RPN NewsWatch; the previous two were
RPN NewsWatch Kids Edition (1979 to 1993) and
RPN Jr. NewsWatch (2005). On October 8, 2008, began covering
Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) games. These were broadcast to coincide with the second half of the game on Wednesday and Friday. This coverage ended in 2011 when RPN lost its PBA broadcasting rights to
Studio 23 (and later to
TV5,
A2Z and
RPTV). On February 16, 2009, former
ABS-CBN news anchor and beauty queen Joyce Burton-Titular replaced Orly Mercado as anchor. Mercado was then able to focus on his duties as the network's president and CEO. On November 30, 2009, Radio Philippines Network (RPN) relaunched as
Solar TV. Broadcast times were changed from 30 minutes to 60 minutes duration. From the usual twice a day times of 5:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., it became once a day at 5:30 p.m. and Reema Chanco was engaged as an additional anchor.
RPN NewsCap replaced
NewsWatch Second Edition and started airing at midnight. In 2010, the timeslot was moved to 11:30 in the evening. It also continued to air on both free TV and on cable until February 25, 2011. On March 2, 2011, after
Solar Entertainment bought 34% stake in RPN, RPN relaunched as
ETC. Alongside
RPN NewsCap,
RPN NewsWatch started to air only on
free TV on that date at 5 p.m. as
ETC had occupied the RPN frequency on all cable providers nationwide. But, it is still being managed to air only through Global Destiny Cable (now
Destiny Cable, owned by
Sky Cable) on channel 116, which was the frequency occupied by
The Game Channel, a channel of
Solar TV Network, occupying the 5:00 p.m. timeslot. On August 15, 2011, the two newscasts began to air on
BEAM TV Channel 31 as
The Game Channel was simulcast on that channel. Its simulcast on that channel stopped in October 2011. After a total of 11,024 episodes in 42 years, on October 29, 2012,
RPN NewsWatch and
RPN NewsCap were axed due to the impending privatization of the network and the controversial retrenchment of some employees of the network. However,
RPN NewsWatch is still used by RPN's provincial AM radio arm Radyo Ronda for its newscasts.
Revival (2024) The NewsWatch brand was reactivated on July 1, 2024, and was revamped as
NewsWatch Plus, a digital news and lifestyle media service. The news service was created by
Nine Media Corporation together with RPN's indirect parent company Broadreach Media Holdings and is independently managed by former
CNN Philippines staff and correspondents which were absorbed by Broadreach Media following the closure of the channel and the dissolution of
its news department on January 31, 2024. The digital news channel currently produces daily news bulletins (
NewsWatch Live) and a 15-minute primetime newscast (
NewsWatch Now) through YouTube and
X accounts formerly used by CNN Philippines. It is currently airing archives of public affairs content through
RPTV (the terrestrial successor channel of the former, jointly run by RPN/Nine Media and
TV5 Network), and as primetime block on its sister station
Aliw Channel 23 since August 12; on July 3, 2024, NewsWatch Plus announced that it would produce new episodes for its programs and provide access to CNN Philippines archives for subscribers. ==Former anchors==