While TFC traces its origins to 1994, the idea of broadcasting television programming via satellite to the millions in the
Filipino diaspora was already floated by the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation (now
ABS-CBN Corporation) in the late 1980s. This came just as it began reconstruction after forced closure under
Martial Law and the 1986
People Power Revolution that ended the dictatorship of
President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. In 1989, the network began initial transmissions via satellite to Filipinos in the
Northern Mariana Islands, especially in
Saipan, as well as
Guam, making it the first Philippine television network to do so. Plans to launch the channel began in April 1994 when J. Xavier Gonzales, chief financial officer of Benpres Holdings, said that it would launch a cable television channel aimed at Filipinos living in the
West Coast of the
United States, rerunning Filipino shows, as well as older movies and made-for-TV films. On September 24, 1994, ABS-CBN, through its newly established subsidiary ABS-CBN International, signed a historic deal with the
PanAmSat to bring the first trans-Pacific Asian programming service to some two million Filipino immigrants in the United States using the then-newly launched
PAS 2 satellite. The following day, TFC was officially launched, first as a cable-only network for millions of
Filipino Americans countrywide. The first headquarters of TFC was a garage in
Daly City, California, with only eight employees doing all the tasks from managing phones and computers. By 1995, TFC has grown to 25,000 subscribers in the United States. Airings of
Mara Clara and other
teleseryes began in 1997, with
Esperanza and
Mula Sa Puso (From the Heart) being the most popular shows. By 2004, TFC has grown to 250,000 subscribers in the United States. This growth led to the expansion of TFC to other countries and territories. In 2005, ABS-CBN International signed an affiliation agreement with
DirecTV, one of the leading DTH providers in the United States. Under the deal, DirecTV has the exclusive right to distribute the TFC package on its DTH platform. In return, DirecTV will pay license fees to ABS-CBN and to ABS-CBN International. Later that year, the now defunct and award-winning internet television service TFC Now! was launched. This was later replaced by TFC.tv video streaming website. In this year, ABS-CBN International acquired San Francisco International Gateway from
Loral Space & Communications. SFIG is a
telecommunications port company based in
Richmond, California. SFIG provides satellite communications services through its 2.5 acre (1 hectare) facility consisting of 19 satellite dish antennas and 9 modular equipment buildings. ABS-CBN International received
Federal Communications Commission licensing approval in April 2006. Also in this year, ABS-CBN International opened its state-of-the-art studio and office in
Redwood City, California. In 2006, SFIG successfully handled the
pay per view distribution to
In Demand and
DirecTV for the
Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar Larios super featherweight championship title fight. SFIG's customers include
Discovery Communications,
CBS,
ESPN,
Playboy among others. SFIG is a member of the World Teleport Association. In 2007, ABS-CBN Global launched Myx (now
Myx TV), the first and only television channel in the United States that is targeted to the Asian-American youth audience. As of 2011, TFC has over 2.47 million subscribers worldwide. In the same year, TFC changed their logo. On February 23, 2018, TFC IPTV and TFC Direct via cable and satellite subscribers had instant online access to TFC Online (now iWantTFC) with TFC Everywhere (TVE) feature. In early February 2021, seven
TFC channels went live with Amagi cloud platform to consolidate its play-out operations on the
cloud to expand its reach and gain greater flexibility. Amagi is in
SaaS for broadcast and streaming TV. ABS-CBN now manages end-to-end workflow on the cloud. Amagi clients include
A+E Networks,
beIN Sports,
Discovery Networks,
IMG and
Warner Media, among others. There are currently 7 different international feeds broadcasting to Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Guam-Australia-New Zealand, USA East, USA West and Canada. On September 1, 2020,
TFC Online was merged with
iWant to make the service accessible worldwide and was soft launched as
iWantTFC. On February 20, 2021, TFC migrated all of its international feeds into the high-definition format, ending with the EMEA feed, becoming the first Philippine-based cable network worldwide to be broadcast in HD. On March 1, 2025, TFC has been launched to
YouTube TV. ==Programming==