Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Do you miss it yet?

Entertainment, Expats, News / by

Let me start this article by making it clear that I do not intend this to be a Conservative vs Liberal battle. Not political. With the topic that I will write about there is a likelihood that a political fight could break out. If that is the type of comment you leave, I will simply delete the comment and blacklist the comment writer so I don’t have to deal with them anymore.

So, do you miss it yet? Miss what? Fox News.

Starting on November 1, SkyCable, the biggest Cable TV provider in the Philippines dropped Fox News from its channel line up. I know that the “news channel” of choice makes for huge fights among Americans, but hey, if you don’t like Fox, just go read a different article. I have no problem if you don’t like it, no skin off my back. But, Fox is a real favorite of a large percentage of the American expat community in the Philippines, so it is something I wanted to address.

You can still watch Fox News

Even if you are on SkyCable, though, there are still ways that you can watch Fox News! I wanted to let you know how you can still get it. I have heard from a LOT of Americans in the past few weeks about how much they were going to miss Fox News and some even said they might move out of the Philippines because they could no longer get Fox News! Somebody who would move over the loss of a TV station is a REAL loyal viewer!

So, what are your options?

Satellite TV

Cignal Satellite TV still offers Fox. One good thing, for those expats who live in more rural areas, is that with Cignal being satellite, it is available anywhere int he Philippines. SkyCable is limited to places where they have a piece of cable going to your house. But, as long as you have electricity, you can use Cignal!

I have thought of changing to Cignal (even before they dropped Fox News), and I may do it. I do have a concern, though… from the things I have heard, I think it is possible that Cignal will also drop Fox News when their contract is up. I don’t know that for sure, though, I just suspect it. In short, if you make a change of service providers, remember that it is possible that it will be dropped by the provider that you switch too. So, if you go to much expense to make the change, you might not want to think it over carefully.

YouTube

There are a LOT of live streams of Fox News on YouTube. I don’t know how they can legally do that (it is not Fox itself that is putting up the live streams) legally, but you can most certainly watch Fox News on YouTube.

Just go to YouTube and do a search for “Fox News Live” and a large number of results will come up. Some may not work, but I find that most of them work fine.

Vaughn
Vaughn

Vaughn TV

There is a website for “Vaughn TV” on the Internet. They have multiple channels streaming live on their various websites. The one that streams Fox News is called “NewzViewz“. It seems to work OK, most of the time.

However, from time to time, especially when there is a big news story going on, the server streams will all be in use and a message will show saying you should try again later. But, as I said, most of the time I find it works fine.

Kodi

As most regular readers would know, I have a Kodi Box that I can use to watch TV stations from all over the world. On Kodi there are several ways you can watch Fox News.

Here are a couple options of how you can watch Fox News on Kodi.

cCloud

If you install the “cCloud” add-on for Kodi you will be able to get live streams of many TV stations all over the world.

To watch Fox News on cCloud, just go to the “News” section of cCloud, then the 3rd news station listed is Fox News. It does not always work, but I find that it works about 90% of the time.

YouTube

The YouTube add-on for Kodi also gives you the same access to Fox news as I described above.

Fox News add-on

There is even a Kodi Add-on called “Fox News”. However, be careful. This does not show you Fox News live stream. What it is is an add-on where you can see snippets from Fox News and such. To me, it is not really worth the time or effort of installing it.

So, hey, if you are a Fox News fan, this might help you be able to get Fox News again! For some, maybe that will mean they can continue living in the Philippines! LOL

If you don’t like Fox News, then you probably were not worried about the station being taken off of SkyCable anyway!

Whatever your politics, I hope that some of you found this guide helpful.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • You won’t see them getting Fox News back, Alex. SkyCable did not drop Fox News… Fox News dropped SkyCable. Fox “requested” that they be dropped because sales were just not enough to be worthwhile.

  4. Robert;
    In days of yore when CNN was all I could get on Dream Satellite I just would not watch it. That choice will always belong to me. I have the internet and can search the truth out myself, I turn off Sean Hannity as he is a 33-1/3 record stuck in the grove.
    I get angry when a network lies to me such as CNN when they edit a video and then outright lie to us which happened the other day in Japan while our President and the Japanese Prime Minister were feeding the fish. (Look it up if you missed the real video)
    It was total fake news, plus very insulting to all viewers. But when 6 corporations own over 90% of American media that is all we can expect.
    Reporters and politicians who at one time were adversarial are now playing on the same teams. We all know that is wrong!
    The following is a joke:
    Bob if I touched on anything that could get me barred from, LiP, please doctor it like any American Journalist would.

          • FAKE News by CNN once again; 10 Nov.2017
            CNN reported that the Doctor that attacked Senator Rand Paul over a property dispute involving shrubs.
            What CNN never mentioned was that they released the story and the source of all CNN’s information was gleaned from the accused doctors lawyer. FAKE NEWS AGAIN!!!!!!!
            BTW Sir Bob, I could not find on Facebook this morning?

    • I am with you Paul. The BIG news on TV really don’t understand the internet it seems. Big news may be on top but now the top is so vast they can’t cover everything. They don’t understand there are 10’s or 100’s of stories on the exact same subject so the truth will be there. I am a firm believer that the truth is the most durable thing in existence. You can try and hide it with lies. But the lies turn to dust just as soon as the proof (truth) shows up. In the end, the truth will always be there. The big news, they need to learn to leave the BS at home. In Ormoc, we have a lot of Fox channels but no Fox news. We have CNN, ANC which is an ABS-CBN News Channel. Al Jazzera. But I just go online if I am interested in a news event.

      • Jesse Waters said (On the FIVE this week) “A lie will be half way around the world, before the truth can get it’s shoes on.

        • Yeah because there are some good liars and they can make the story fascinating which is all apart of hiding the truth!

    • i think a lot of other countries have the same problem. not enough competition. most of europe has the same problem as america. Even the BBC is not as good as it used to be but still seems be sort of impartial(thats how news should be, dry, no comments, just the plain facts). for opinions you should make a program after the news.

      • bertel;
        Most news is for profit,including BBC. When I was in Europe in the 1960’s and 70’s BBC was the Gold Standard. But has sadly taken a Liberal Slant after that.

    • I am sure Sir Bob would never cut you off Paul – you are a great contributor here and tell it from the heart and how it is. I enjoy reading your mix of past experience serving your country mixed in with your experiences of where you live now. Long may you reign.

  5. interesting. so I can watch a lot of different shows on you tube? I have to give it a try. But my internet is so slow and weak. Some days I can’t even read LIP

  6. I have Cignal, so still have fox. Today I’m in a hotel away from our house, and I thought it was strange when I could not find fox. Now I know why. I really holding my tongue so I do not get banned, but I agree this discussion could quickly get out of hand.

    • Fox News told SkyCable that the Philippine market is too small for them to worry about, and Fox dropped Sky. I wonder if the same will happen to Cignal when contract talks happen next between Fox and Cignal.

  7. While I am not a fan of “mainstream” American news journalism of any stripe (working on my Canadian accent!….joke!) I understand fully the brewing outrage against Skycable!!! They have also dropped the Basketball Channel and NBA Premium! That, by my lights is a capital crime!!! Unfortunately they have the cable concession for my condo building and we are not permitted Cignal dishes, so my options are hanging out at local restaurants and bars where NBA games are being shown. Hey! I’m not a drinker anymore, but I still know how to hang out in bars and restaurants!!! My real peeve is that I can’t even vent my ire over this whole injustice directly to Skycable!!! Their customer service is crap and they simple don’t respond to my well-reasoned emails!!! Maybe it’s all the @**&&%!!@ I tend to pepper my messages with? Boy…if I ever get them in my crosshairs…..

  8. I never watch Fox News in the US, and so far have not watched any news during my 3-month stays in the Philippines. I don’t watch CNN either. Both networks skat the news in their respective ways.

    • I promise, Mike… if you don’t want to watch news of any flavor.. I won’t force you, and I don’t think anybody else in the Philippines will either! LOL

    • James R Heverin not at all. I keep up with world events far more than the average person. I listen to BBC, NPR and watch PBS, and read newspapers. Fox and CNN are both basically in the entertainment and propaganda industries. But, when I am in Philippines for three months, I am on vacation.

  9. This comes along the lines of what I, myself, am looking forward to when I retire. The Philippines will be my escape from the hectic world of American politics. And, I refuse to get involved with Philippine politics. Sounds like win/win.

    I don’t need any talking heads telling me what to think. I’ll do my OWN thinking, please and thank you. I use the internet to confirm or disprove any news. Case in point? The great “fish feed” mentioned below.

    • Hi Cugger – One thing I can promise you. when you get to the Philippines, nobody is going to tie you down to a chair and force you to watch one news station or another. It is your choice. I wrote this article for those who want to be able to watch Fox News and think they can’t watch it any more.

      For those who don’t care to watch any news.. that is no skin off my nose.

      • Hi Bob, haven’t been on your site much recently, nice to chat with you.
        It’s hard not to get caught up in the moment. Most of the expats I’ve met, mainly in Cebu, are there for the same reason. Escape from the craziness. It’s very appealing. If I didn’t have a farm…
        Very important for expats to stay clear of Philippine politics. I can assure other people on your forums; from close personal experience, it is best to stay totally clear. No up side.
        That is what retiring to the Philippines is about, imo. Escape.

        • Nice to hear from you again.

          Reasons for being here are personal for each individual person. It is a choice we make for our own reasons.

          I agree about Philippine politics, and it is something I have always stressed on the site.

  11. It seems like to me all of the news channels are slanted either to the right or the left. It is to the point that you just don’t know what the truth is or who to believe anymore. All of them are politically motivated

    • I watch them all and try to piece together what I think is accurate. I’m not a Democrat or Republican. I’ve got clowns to the left of me jokers to the right and I’m just stuck in the middle

  12. I was in the Philippines last year during the election. I could not find any news channel that would cover the election but I only get to spend a few weeks a year over there so I don’t really know the channel lineups

  14. I don’t watch much news on the TV anymore. I think the last time I watched BBC-TV was for live coverage of the UK general election in June. In fact I’m now wondering why I bother to maintain our SkyCable subscription just to watch the occasional programme on the History or National Geographic channels. The wife and kids watch movies and TV series online while the helpers are quite happy with ABS-CBN over the airwaves. I used to watch UFC on the Balls channel but that disappeared a couple of years ago.

    So thanks for your post Bob. I’m going to cancel SkyCable and upgrade our PLDT internet to cope better with those times when we have 3-4 computers and 2-3 mobile phones all trying to stream movies and watch stuff on YouTube at the same time.

      • I agree, Sir Bob – too much negative news. The bad stuff always takes top spot – but if it’s going to happen then it will happen whether or not we read about it daily or hourly. But something in the human psyche (including mine) can compel us to read it (esp. males).

  15. If you get a chromecast (lanzada, if that’s the correct spelling has them for around P2650) you can send youtube to any HDTV.

    Be careful you buy a real chromecast that has the Google logo and box as there are counterfeits on the same site.

      • This is true, however I cannot recommend this enough because in my experience, clerks at stores push skyworth because it fits the budget of most Pinoys, however these TV sets generally have garbage for apps, if any apps at all.

        This way even the worst TV you buy at the grocery store vs the good electronics store is future proof for any streaming anyone may want to do.

        Also notable that you can stream CNN, and sky news (UK not as in sky cable) over YouTube.

          • Yep. I was lucky to get an old nexus player here on the he USA for super cheap. Android TV and officially Google branded.

            Bob, I edited my post and added a bunch. Not sure if you saw the edit. Always enjoy your site.

            Our home in Davao is almost finished, and I love the PH. thanks again for everything.

            If you wanted to take me up on what I mentioned I definitely love to write and have a unique perspective.

            Let me know if I should email you 🙂

  16. Bob, This is the first I heard about dropping Fox News. Bad News for me. Thanks for all the excellent information. Richard

  18. Our Satellite TV service, GSat, continues to provide Fox News. They did, however, move access to it into their higher priced HDTV package. Though there was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth by Expats up here, most all upgraded.

  19. Hi Bob,

    I think part of this is people tend to think the general public is like themselves. Apparently a lot of expats like to watch Fox News, but Filipinos who make up most of the market do not. I guess the cost for Fox News to provide its show was greater than the revenue it was generating. Nothing personal just business.

    On a separate issue I am experiencing the disappearing comments issue when I visit your site, again.

    Peace

    Jay

  20. Bob,
    If they ever took Fox News off Cignal the 2 people who I would miss would be Tucker Carlson and Jesse Waters. Always tell it like it is. One thing that Cignal added was NFL Football on Sunday, Monday and Thursday Nights on Channel 5. That was a pleasant surprise.

    • PapaDuck,
      I would also miss several Fox personalities if Cignal stopped carrying the station. I also noticed channel 5 now carries a few football games. Last year that would have excited me, however I’ve lost interest due to the players conduct during anthem.

      • Correct Steve, since the NFL players started disrespecting the American flag my whole family back in the USA canceled all there NFL cable channels. I also here in Leyte will not subscribe to it. I like Nascar better.