As ABS-CBN began national programming via satellite in stages in 1989 it considered the creation of a regional newscast for the millions of people of Mindanao island and the islands around it. The year before, buoyed by the success of its regional news programming in the Visayas, the network selected Channel 4 Davao as the next to begin regional newscasts. By then only Channel 9, its affiliate station in Zamboanga City, had carried regional news for its viewers in the Zamboanga Peninsula and beyond.