In 1987, the change in national leadership emboldened small independent cable television operators to organize themselves to promote and protect their interests, and to indelibly put the infant cable television industry in the map of respected Philippine business. Thus was born the PCTA.

Under the leadership of Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., the association first worked for the repeal of the presidential decree granting exclusive national franchise to only one company. The association’s efforts paid off on June 30, 1987, when President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order No. 205 amending the decree and in effect, democratizing the Industry.

Taking the cue from President’s Aquino’s issuance of the Executive Order, the National Telecommunications Commission promulgated in April 1988, after numerous hearings, the rules and regulations that would govern the installation, operation and maintenance of cable television systems in the Philippines.

The Filipinos’ entrepreneurial spirit, suppressed for a long time by the constricting decree of then President Ferdinand Marcos, finally burst free, inspiring many entrepreneurs and businessmen to take strong interest in the technology and create a new market for cable television.

Their instincts plus the global thirst for new and powerful technologies proved them correct, with a significant number of Filipino consumers readily embracing what cable operators have to offer. But what really whetted the interest of a good portion of the populace in cable television was the Gulf War in 1991 when cable giant CNN brought to Filipino households a gallery view and blow by blow account of the war.