DYSS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Metro Cebu, Philippines, serving as the Visayasflagship of the GMA network. It is owned and operated by the network's namesake corporate parent alongside GTV outlet DYLS-TV (channel 27). Both stations share studios at the GMA Skyview Complex, Nivel Hills, Apas, Cebu City, while DYSS-TV's hybrid analog and digital transmitting facility is located atop Mt. Bonbon.[1][2][3]
Timeline
February, 1962 - The origin of GMA Cebu can traced back to radio station in Cebu, DYSS and launched its first provincial AM station in Cebu City on July 4, 1957. DYSS was then owned by GMA Network's predecessor Loreto F. de Hemedes Inc. of Robert "Uncle Bob" Stewart through DZBB in Manila, which later renamed Republic Broadcasting System, Inc. in 1963. Upon the launch, their old studios of radio operation in Fortunata Bldg., at the corner of Magallanes & Lapu-lapu Sts., with the location of 167-ft. vertical antenna and 1-kilowatt BC Gates Transmitter situated in Mambaling Seaside. After the success of its radio station, the company ventured into television. Months after DZBB-TV in Manila was founded the past October 29, 1961, DYSS-TV Channel 7 began commercial television operations and the second VHF television station established in Cebu City (after the establishment of provincial stations of ABS Channel 3 owned by ABS-CBN's predecessor Alto Broadcasting System and ABC Channel 11 by the Associated Broadcasting Corporation). The original studios and transmitters of TV operations were inaugurated since then at the 10/F Luym Bldg. (now Ludo and Luym Bldg.) along Plaridel cor. Juan Luna Sts. (now Osmeña Blvd.). The station broadcast with a transmitting power output of 5,000 watts covering parts of the Metro Cebu area.[4]
March 1, 1969 - RBS was then known as "Greater 7 Cebu", using the Circle 7 logo that ABC was using for all of its owned-and-operated stations at the time. The station's programming is composed of canned programs from the United States and it later produced local programs.
September 21, 1972 - Following the proclamation of Martial Law by then PresidentFerdinand Marcos by the virtue of Proclamation 1081, DYSS-TV was forced to shut down, though it only lasted for more than 3 months. In December of that year, the station was given the green light by the National Media Production Center (NMPC) to returned on the air, however with limited three-month permits.
1974 - RBS were sold to a triumvirate composed of Felipe Gozon, Gilberto Duavit Sr., and Menardo Jimenez. Under the new management, DYSS-TV reopened with a new identity as GMA Radio-Television Arts and introduced the Where You Belong slogan to catch the attention of local viewers. The relaunch of GMA, aside from sporting a light blue square logo with the network name in white, also had a circle 7 logo in use. In its final years, the blue circle 7 logo used was similar to those used by the ABC in some United States cities (later used the rainbow colors of red, yellow, green and blue stripes, as GMA prepares for a network reformatting). Following that year, DYSS-TV was converted into an originating station with its English local news bulletin "GMA News Digest Cebu", a local newscast which served as affiliate to GMA News Roundup (later GMA News Digest).
1979 - GMA News Digest Cebu was relaunched and became News at Seven Cebu, following the launch of GMA's flagship newscast News at Seven which premiered on November 1, 1976, to face the increasing competition of its English local newscast GTV-3's News Today (now Newscenter 3 Cebu in 1980 and then went defunct), which debuted in 1978.
January 20, 1980 - DYSS-TV launched its first live coverage of Sinulog Festival with its first location in Plaza Independencia, Cebu City. This was the same year that it premiered Goot da Wanderpol, the channel's first local drama production in the Cebuano language. With this premiere, the local drama series was syndicated by its sister station in Davao.
1981 - To serve local viewers further, DYSS-TV launched its first ever Cebuano language newscast, Mga Balita sa Kilum-Kilum, as well as a local business show to promote Cebuano entrepreneurs.
1990 - DYSS-TV transferred its studios and transmitter to new facilities located at GMA Skyview Complex in Nivel Hills, Apas for better broadcast equipments and an upgraded transmitter tower, with increased transmitting power output to 50 kW (259 kW ERP) to replace an old 5-kilowatt TPO located at the Luym Bldg. in Plaridel St. for 3 decades. The transmitter upgrades resulted in clearer and better signal reception in Metro Cebu, and the Central and Eastern Visayas.
1992 - DYSS-TV commenced its first relay station in Eastern Visayas via TV-10 Tacloban with a power capacity of 5,000 watts to covering Tacloban City, and was the first television station to operating as a semi-satellite of GMA Radio-Television Arts in the Leyte area/provinces, which opened in 1987.
April 30, 1992 - as part of the network's expansion of coverage which started exactly four years after with the inauguration of the network's Tower of Power in its flagship station in Manila (based in Quezon City), DYSS-TV was launched as the Rainbow Satellite network. Through its nationwide satellite broadcast, GMA's national programmings were seen across the Philippine archipelago and Southeast Asia resulting in DYSS becoming a relay (satellite-selling) station of the network's flagship station DZBB-TV Channel 7 Manila to reach Cebuano viewers around the Central Visayas region, Leyte and Samar, while retaining local programming to match up with its rivals. With the launch, GMA utilizes a new logo to correspond with the rebranding and a satellite-beaming rainbow in a multicolored striped based on the traditional scheme of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, with GMA in a metallic form uses a San Serif Futura Extra Bold and analogous gloominess of Indigo as its fonts in the letters. GMA was the official broadcaster of the 1995 World Youth Day, which was the last visit of Pope John Paul II to the country.
October 4, 1999 - Balitang Bisdak, the channel's first local newscast was launched as the first regional newscast of GMA Network in Visayas with Bobby Nalzaro as its sole anchor, two years after he was resigned with Bombo Radyo Cebu in 1997 and joined with GMA Cebu as regional news anchor and chief operations officer of DYSS Super Radyo Cebu, which covering the Metro Cebu area. This was on October 24 of the same year that it launched "Singgit Cebu", the channel's musical variety show and taped-as-live alternately from SM City Cebu. During that time, GMA Channel 7 Cebu produced Cebuano drama series Ang Bastonero. The series also began to simulcasting on the network's sole station in Mindanao TV-5 Davao.
December 31, 1999 - GMA special Global Millennium Day got a regional version to be served to Cebuano residence and including regional host. Then it was simulcast from GMA-7 Manila (for the Regine Velasquez performance called "Written in the Sands") and regional feeds from Region 7 and 8. Also, the station had a radio version via DYSS 999 and 99.5 RT Cebu.
2010s - GMA Cebu officially inaugurated a new transmitter tower and equipment, and the opening of a 60,000 watt transmitter located in Mt. Bonbon, resulting in improved signal quality throughout Central and Eastern Visayas.
November 13, 2017 - Following the newly launched of GMA Regional TV division, Balitang Bisdak was relaunched similar to sister newscasts Balitang Amianan (which later relaunched One North Central Luzon since 2022) and newly-launched One Mindanao as part of the new development, which will be simultaneously broadcast in key cities and provinces in Central and Eastern Visayas through GMA Network's local channels, which is composed of TV-10 Tacloban, TV-11 Bohol and TV-12 Ormoc.
May 23, 2018 - GMA Cebu commenced its ISDB-T digital test broadcasts on UHF Channel 26, with an increasing power of 15,000-watt (77,700-watt ERP) covering Metro Cebu and the provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental and Bohol, as well as several parts of Leyte and Samar.
June 29, 2020 - GMA Cebu temporarily taken over by GMA TV-6 Iloilo with One Western Visayas airing in Cebu and the rest of Central and Eastern Visayas following GMA Regional TV's decision to suspend the station's program production due to the increasingly intense situation in Cebu City caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The setup ended on July 10, when the program returned on July 13.
December 16, 2021 - GMA Cebu suspended its operations for the second time following the aftermath of Typhoon "Rai" (Odette) at the evening, which damaged electrical lines and the trees near GMA Complex and its transmitters brought about by the typhoon. A day later, it returned on-air with limited broadcast to four hours a day operations (4:00-8:00 p.m.) for emergency broadcast.
January 12, 2022 - The program resumed operations after power was restored in Brgy. Apas and thus resuming the production of GMA's local programs and religious shows; much of the program line-up are carried from its flagship station in Quezon City via satellite. Following that day, GMA Cebu reclaimed 18-19 hours of the broadcast daily, reducing primetime telecasts to the 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. block since the amid of Typhoon Rai a month ago. Few weeks later from now, the station completed the returned to its regular daily broadcasting hours that originating from GMA-7 Manila.
