A week after the Filipino language anime channel HEROtv closed its doors, their social media accounts has officially announced that the anime channel will now be revamped into a “digital portal”, which will now be known simply as HERO.
It is unclear if the new online service will be handled by the same staff of the anime channel or ABS-CBN has installed a new team to handle the digital assets, but Anime Pilipinas understands that some of the channel’s staff may be absorbed by other departments of the network.
After some confusion from their followers, HERO has released a more detailed explanation on Thursday about the revamp.
The new service explains that the decision to keep HERO as an online brand is because it “presented opportunities for different institutions to easily reach individuals around the world.”
The service also adds that they plan to produce anime, pop-culture and gaming contents using its social media accounts, YouTube channel and a new website, but it’s still unclear what kind of content they plan to present.
Unfortunately, the new digital portal “will not be airing anime titles anymore”, which shuts down any speculation that the defunct channel will transform into a video on-demand service.
HEROtv is a now-defunct Filipino language anime channel of media conglomerate ABS-CBN, under its ABS-CBN Cable Channels subsidiary, which started its test broadcast in August 2005 and was officially launched on November 12, 2015.
The channel initially offered anime shows from Telesuccess Productions plus their own acquisitions, but eventually, the channel had acquired titles a few years after
HEROtv also organized events that became fixtures on the Japanese pop-culture scene in the country, like “Hataw! Hanep! Hero” in 2005-2007, then “HERO Face Off: The Ultimate Cosplay Battle” in 2010-2015.
The anime channel has officially shut down its broadcast operations on February 1, 2018 at 12:04am, reportedly due to lack of advertiser support.
