Metro Channel Celebrates Its First Anniversary With Milestones, Awards, and Amazing Hosts!
Metro Channel celebrates its first anniversary this month, marking a year of travel, food, fashion, beauty, and great lifestyle content. While it’s only been a year, Metro Channel has already marched ahead as the number one lifestyle channel on Philippine cable TV as early as last November.
“Metro Channel was created under the Metro Superbrand as the on-air platform focusing on the upscale female market. With a dramatic increase in its local content, the channel tailor-fitted each new program with real and influential local icons and experts,” shares Metro Channel Head Lala Ventura. “The vision of the channel is to inspire its viewers to live a ‘well-styled life’ through meaningful and relevant local and foreign lifestyle content.”
Award-winning content
With this vision, Metro Channel churned out a number of local shows that tap the many facets of the modern Filipino's life. For the foodies, notable Filipino chefs like Sandy Daza, JP Anglo, Margarita Forés, and Claude Tayag come together for shows like Casa Daza, Show Me the Market, The Crawl, Chasing Flavors, and Food Prints. Power women Joey Mead-King and Tricia Centenera sit down with inspiring women who excel in their fields for Women of Style and Driven.
Zarah Juan on Tricia Centenera's Driven
In the realm of travel, Metro Channel has all the bases covered, too: Maggie Wilson and Marc Nelson scour the Philippines for the best beaches and seaside experiences in Beached (which now welcomes a new host, beauty queen Rachel Peters, as Maggie takes a break to spend more time with family); Metro Society Editor-in-Chief Raul Manzano takes us to the finest and most luxurious spots, local and abroad, on EIC on the Move; Metro Home & Entertaining Editor-in-Chief Anton Barretto and businesswoman Stephanie Kienle-Gonzalez visit beautiful residences in and out of the city in Metro Home; and Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach tours the world in Pia’s Postcards.
READ: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘EIC On The Move’ Host Raul Manzano
It has indeed been a momentous first year, overflowing with amazing content from the channel’s different shows and hosts. The launch of The Crawl in August was huge, taking sexy chef Willy Trullas, restaurateur Dani Aliaga, and hot foodie Nico Bolzico on a food and wine escapade in Spain. And just a few months after, The Crawl sent Asia’s Best Female Chef 2016 Margarita Forés and singer-actor-restaurateur Matteo Guidicelli back to Italy to show us some of the best culinary experiences the country has to offer.
READ: Inside Matteo Guidicelli And His Family's Da Gianni Cucina Italiana Restaurant
Matteo Guidicelli and Chef Margarita Forés taping in Italy for Crawl Italy
When it comes to the hottest events in the metro, Metro Channel has all the exclusives covered: the grand ABS-CBN Ball, attended by the biggest Kapamilya stars; Metro Society’s KaLIKHAsan Ball, which brought together artists and personalities advocating for the development of the arts and the protection of the environment; and the Metrowear fashion show, which presented in-demand designer Vania Romoff as the latest and youngest Metrowear Icon in the most recent show.
Earlier this year, Joey Mead-King also had the special opportunity to fly to Singapore and cover the Asia Press Conference for Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, where she met up with stars Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. Pia Wurtzbach also connected with some of the biggest names in their respective industries: world-renowned fashion designer Furne One, furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue, and the one and only Ben Cab.
As travel becomes more popular and affordable than ever, Metro Channel is ticking off your bucket list in the hottest destinations: Japan, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Bali, and, of course, all around the beautiful hotspots in the Philippines. This year, we're setting out to go even bigger in South Korea and New York, two of the world's biggest tourist destinations.
READ: Look! Pia Wurtzbach And Sue Ramirez Explore South Korea Together For "Pia's Postcards"
Foodprints in Japan
READ: Exploring The Vintage Side Of New Zealand Carved By An Earthquake
And just a year into programming and producing inspiring content, Metro Channel is receiving three awards from the 17th Gawad Tanglaw. Show Me the Market, Chasing Flavors, and Food Prints—shows that showcase rich Filipino culture and dishes—are receiving the Jury Award for Cultural Development and Sustainability. Women of Style also takes the Jury Award for Gender and Development, and Metro Home is awarded the Jury Award for Sustainable Design and Innovation.
WATCH: Building Your Dream Home | Metro Home
Show me the Market's Joel Binamira
Bag designer Mai Mai Cojuangco on Joey Mead-King's Driven
READ: Exploring Laguna: Peculiar Flavors And Food Pairings That Work
Indeed, many of the channel’s local shows are able to highlight the beauty and richness of Filipino culture, and advocate for continuous sustainable development and interest.
Great hosts
Metro Channel has made a profound impact on the viewing public, and its lifestyle icons and hosts greatly contribute to this achievement.
Beached, set in the most beautiful beaches around the country, would not be complete without the perfectly fit and gorgeous environmental advocates, hosts Maggie and Marc. While we are now always treated to Maggie’s sizzling beach OOTDs, she tells Metro Channel that her first memorable beach experience was actually the time she bought and wore her very first bikini.
“It was this neon blue bikini and it was the first time I got to wear something like that to the beach. I was living in Saudi Arabia at that time, too, so that was very, very rare,” she says.
READ: Maggie Wilson Tries Out "Mermaiding" In Boracay
In various Beached episodes, Marc also takes us to many underwater wonders. He shares that he has always been comfortable under the sea, taking his first dive in Anilao, Batangas when he was just 11 years old. You’d think that this extreme sports enthusiast and thrill-seeker has tried it all, but actually, Marc’s first Kawasan Falls canyoneering and sardine run was with Metro Channel for an episode in Cebu.
Marc Nelson on his first sardine run
Joey is also another adventurous soul, not backing down from any challenge or activity. And as an animal lover, she says she treasures the many firsts she’s had shooting Women of Style: she met her first Albino snake at Felicia Atienza’s house and rode her first carabao at Hindy Tantoco’s farm.
Anton, co-host of award-winning, living and entertaining show Metro Home, has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Metro Home and Entertaining magazine for years, but the show was actually his very first hosting stint––something he never thought he would do in his lifetime.
Like Anton, it was also Raul’s first time hosting his own lifestyle and travel show. But while it’s not Raul’s first time to get tipsy, it’s his first time get a cocktail named after him—and get caught on the camera having too much fun with it!
READ: An Expert-Approved 3-Day Itinerary For A Relaxing Bali Escape
Raul Manzano beside his namesake cocktail, "The EIC"
Tim Yap, master host and entertainer, debuted Tim's Table last December with a bang. It was one of the rare times the busy and talented hosts of Metro Channel all came together to share food and stories. And Tim reveals that while he is always around people and in social events, the very first episode of Tim's Table was actually the biggest crowd he's ever hosted in his house. It was also with Metro Channel that he hosted his first fundraiser to save clams.
It is indeed an honor to have 2016’s Asia's Best Female Chef on board the Metro Channel team, leading the very first Crawl Italy last year. When it comes to Italian cuisine, Chef Margarita has got to have rich experiences and extensive knowledge, having lived and studied the culinary arts in Italy for years. But she reveals it's actually with Metro Channel that she first tried lamb brain.
“I have eaten so many exotic things in my 31 years working with food, but eating lamb brains on The Crawl at Ristorante Cibreo Florence was an absolute first. Cibreo of Fabio Picchi was already one of the most iconic restaurants in Florence when I was there to study Italian food for the first time in 1986. So to be able to enjoy their original iconic dishes, but enjoy new ones there too with Fabio’s son was a real treat,” says Chef Margarita.
Among the many local shows of Metro Channel, Pia’s Postcards was the very first show that was conceptualized and greenlit. The show also became an avenue for Queen Pia to experience many firsts, including meeting designer Furne One, a Filipino designer who has taken the Middle East by storm. During her visit to Japan, it was also her first time to see the cherry blossoms and stay at a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn with tatami-matted rooms).
Pia meeting Furne One in Dubai
Metro Channel also continues its presence beyond the small screen, as the Metro Superbrand dominates every sphere and media. Lala adds, “We continue to produce competitive local shows that we are able to transition to digital through the Metro.Style YouTube channel and iWant. We try our best to create stories that will engage our market wherever they choose to consume our content. This is the magic and the advantage of existing within the Metro Superbrand, since our content is seen on print, on ground, on-air and online.”
Metro Channel is now the preferred channel for the best in curated lifestyle content.
