Lifestyle (Network) has a new name.
On April 2, 2018, Lifestyle was renamed and rebranded as the Metro Channel. Named after the high-end lifestyle magazine of the same name, Metro Channel will feature almost the same content as its predecessor, with a focus on food, fashion and travel programs.
Some of the programs that will air on Metro Channel include locally-produced shows such as ‘The Crawl’, ‘Casa Daza’, ‘At the Table’, ‘G Diaries’ and ‘Pia’s Postcards’. It will also feature foreign canned programs such as ‘Masterchef’, ‘America’s Next Top Model’ and ‘The Great British Bakeoff’.
Operated by ABS-CBN affiliate Creative Programs Inc., Metro Channel was originally launched on July 24, 1999 as the Lifestyle Network. It was later rebranded as ‘Lifestyle’ in 2015 with increased emphasis towards programs concerning food, fashion and travel.
Metro Channel will continue to air on SkyCable channel 52 and on high definition channel 174. It is also available on SkyDirect channel 31 and on select cable operators in the Philippines.
Easter weekend also saw the demise of Toonami, a cable channel operated by Turner Broadcasting. After nearly six years on the air, Toonami was officially shut down on March 31, 2018.
A sister channel of Cartoon Network and Boomerang, Toonami was known to air a selection of anime and American action cartoon series. Among the notable programs that were aired on Toonami include ‘Batman’, ‘Teen Titans’, ‘Ben 10’, ‘Inazuma Eleven Go’, ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’, ‘Yo-Kai Watch’ and ‘Dragon Ball Z’.
The shutdown of Toonami had huge repercussions to Filipino anime fans who still mourn the loss of local anime channel Hero. At the time it was taken off the air, Toonami was broadcasting the ongoing ‘Dragon Ball Super’ series which has yet to be launched on Filipino free TV.
It remains to be seen if Cartoon Network will be able to revive the Toonami primetime block to accommodate its displaced programs. But for anime fans who are looking for other ways to watch their favorite programs, there are other options such as cable channels Animax and AniPlus, as well as anime streaming websites.
From the Tube 
Also I think Bloomberg PH is dead. Good luck to its replacement.
Speaking of Lifestyle/Metro, I don’t understand why ABS launched the (now-defunct) Velvet a few years back, Velvet felt redundant to Lifestyle considering both were targeted at the same audience and had a similar program lineup.
Not yet. Bloomberg PH is still on-air. Check their Facebook page because they were still able to air some of their programs live yesterday. Until then, we’ll have to wait for their impending shutdown announcement.
Regarding Velvet, their content is actually way different from Lifestyle back then. Lifestyle, during the 2000s, aired mostly cooking and housekeeping programs and is catered to housewives and househusbands, whereas Velvet is focused more on fashion and entertainment shows for younger women. Unfortunately, the return of 2nd Avenue and ETC to free TV pretty much negated Velvet’s drawing power.
Also, while Toonami SEA’s demise is sad, I think I know what happened to it. Cartoon Network (or at least the American one) itself is moving away from anime and more towards American shows (Pokemon, one of its last holdovers, moved over to Disney XD two years ago), and Turner’s support for anime (at least in the US) is limited to Toonami/Adult Swim. Perhaps the international operations are seeing similar changes.
Well you can’t blame them for the shift in content. Some lines had to be sharpened, that’s why Turner is doing this to make their channels more distinct, but in doing so, they also close those that are redundant and poorly performing.
Speaking of Dragon Ball Super, will it replace the 2011 Hunter X Hunter anime (now on its last arc) in its timeslot on GMA, given that the Filipino dubbers for the returning characters in Dragon Ball Super are available? Okay then wait for further announcements from GMA.
There’s no announcement yet.
Also 2nd Avenue bids Goodbye on May 31, 2018 plus replaced by RJTV 29 owned by Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc. starting June 1, 2018 RJTV now on UHF Channel 29 on Analog and Channel 30 on Digital (ISDB-T), Sky Cable, Cignal, Cablelink and SatLite as well, plus catch the entertainment and lifestyle shows on Metro Channel, Blue Ant Entertainment, Fox Life, Fox Channel, Sony Channel, Diva and Warner TV.
A new article about that will come this week, but I’m going to give you a warning for incorrect sentence structures. You learned proper English sentences, right? So why not practice it properly or else you might get called ‘bobo sa Ingles’ by your friends.
Also, we’re not sure how can RJ and Solar will replace 2nd Avenue. At the moment, Solar and RJ are still in a partnership so let’s see how will they do something about 2nd Avenue’s impending shutdown.
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