AB Broadcasting and Media: Course and Careers

TL;DR: BA Broadcasting is prescribed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 37, series of 2017, and CHED's sample curriculum runs 149 units across 47 subjects - among the heaviest of the arts degrees. Thirteen required courses cover writing, producing, programming and post-production. Students do an internship of 150 to 300 hours, unless the school offers the 15-unit Integrated Thesis and Special Project in its place. There is no PRC board exam for broadcasting.

Broadcasting is the media degree with the most equipment attached to it, and that is the practical fact that should drive where you enrol. CHED's order is unusually explicit about what students must be able to produce - live content, pre-recorded content, dramatic and non-dramatic writing, non-linear post-production - and a school without working studios cannot deliver that on a whiteboard. Here is the whole structure.

The CHED Order

CHED Memorandum Order No. 37, series of 2017, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Arts in Broadcasting (BA Broadcasting) Program," was issued under Republic Act No. 7722 and by virtue of Commission en banc Resolution No. 231-2017 dated 28 March 2017.

CHED's definition of the field is worth reading because it settles a question students ask constantly - whether the degree is still about radio and television in a streaming era:

"Broadcasting as a field of study has traditionally covered the transmission of messages to the public through the media of radio and television. Today the field has expanded to include non-traditional internet-based multi-platform media."

That expansion is not cosmetic. Almost every required course in the order is titled "for Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media," which is CHED writing platform-neutrality into the curriculum itself.

The order names four programme goals: bridging theory and practice by promoting critical analysis and social responsibility, producing competitive graduates who are innovative and competent, encouraging local and global insights, and training for proficiency in the use of technology.

The 149-Unit Curriculum

The core courses carry 30 units across only six subjects because one of them - the Integrated Thesis and Special Project - is worth 15 units on its own. The other five are Introduction to Communication and Media, Communication and Media Theory, Media Laws, Media Ethics, and Research in Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media.

These are CHED's sample figures. Schools may design their own curriculum toward the same outcomes, so confirm the current programme of study with the department.

The 13 required courses

This is the production spine, and CHED names every one:

• Introduction to Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media
• Production of Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media Texts
• Broadcasting Institution Management
• Programming for Broadcasting
• News Writing and Production
• Writing Dramatic Materials
• Writing Non-dramatic Materials
• Political Economy of Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media
• Analysis of Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media Texts
• Studies of Audiences and Users
• Producing Live Content
• Producing Pre-recorded Content
• Non-linear Post-production of Content

Notice what sits alongside the craft courses. Political Economy of Broadcasting and Broadcasting Institution Management are required, not electives. CHED is treating broadcasting as an industry with ownership structures and business models that graduates are expected to understand, not just as a set of production skills.

The electives

Four broadcasting or media electives, 12 units. CHED's suggested list is long and genuinely varied: writing comedy, broadcast and interactive journalism, newsroom management, producing documentaries, producing public affairs and public interest programmes, sound design, music in broadcasting, production design, videography, interactive broadcasting, producing instructional programmes, marketing and promotion, advertising principles and practices in broadcasting, performance, media and gender, and media literacy.

On top of that, 18 units of electives in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. That is a substantial general-knowledge requirement for a production degree, and it is the part students most often overlook when comparing programmes.

The Internship - or the Integrated Project

CMO No. 37 gives schools a genuine fork here, and it changes the shape of your fourth year.

Option one: the internship

Students "shall render a minimum of 150 hours and a maximum of 300 hours in one or two broadcast media companies or media-related organizations." A faculty adviser or coordinator orients the interns, arranges placements, monitors progress, assesses performance and gives the final mark.

CHED points schools to existing internship guidelines prepared by the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and the Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE) Foundation, and notes that the Technical Committee for Broadcasting was working toward a review of the KBP-PACE agreement that established the broadcast internship programme. Schools may also make their own arrangements with stations and media organisations, whether or not those are KBP or PACE members, with safeguards for student safety.

Option two: the Integrated Thesis and Special Project

This is the more demanding route and CHED describes it in detail. It is a 15-unit subject that a school may offer in lieu of both the internship and the thesis. Instead of a practicum, students "produce a full-length documentary, drama, magazine program, or a similar production under the combined mentorship of a broadcast station and the faculty," with faculty also supervising the theoretical framework and the accompanying thesis or critical essay about the production.

Scheduling matters: CHED says it may be taken solely in the first semester of fourth year, or split between the mid-year or summer term before fourth year and that first semester. Productions and theses may be individual or in small groups.

CHED also flags a consequence schools should think through: which option a school takes "affects the other course offerings, particularly the Broadcasting electives," though general education and core courses stay the same.

Ask which option your target school runs before you enrol. One gives you 150 to 300 hours inside a working newsroom or production house; the other gives you a full-length production of your own with a station attached as co-mentor. Both are defensible. They are not the same experience, and they build different portfolios.

Is There a Licence for Broadcasters?

No. The Professional Regulation Commission operates forty-six Professional Regulatory Boards, and broadcasting is not one of them. No PRC examination, no professional identification card, no legal requirement to hold the degree to work in the field.

As with journalism, that shifts the weight onto demonstrated work. Your reel, your productions, your internship credits and your integrated project are what a station or production house evaluates. A broadcasting programme's value is largely a function of how much finished work it forces you to make and what equipment it lets you make it on.

If licensure matters to how you are choosing a course, see courses with board exams.

Careers

CMO No. 37 carries one of the more detailed career lists in the 2017 batch. Under broadcasting, interactive and emerging media practitioners CHED names scriptwriters, directors, producers, performers, journalists, production designers covering lighting, set design and costume or makeup, post-production specialists, web content creators, developers and designers, graphic designers, videographers and cinematographers, and musical scorers.

Beyond production roles, the order lists managers in broadcasting, cable, interactive and emerging media companies; consultants in media relations, public relations and corporate communications; teachers and trainers; media entrepreneurs; and policy and decision makers in government information agencies.

CHED also names the allied programmes, which is useful if you are shifting or planning graduate study: Communication, Development Communication, Journalism, Film and Cinema Studies, Multimedia or Digital Media Studies, Public Relations, Advertising, and Integrated Marketing Communication.

We are not publishing salary figures for these roles. Production pay in the Philippines runs on a mix of staff positions, per-project contracts and freelance day rates that no single average captures honestly, so we would rather leave it out than print a number we cannot source.

What Admission Actually Looks Like

Broadcasting programmes at competitive schools often screen beyond the general entrance test, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines publishes its requirements openly, which makes it a useful example of what to expect.

PUP's College of Communication states that applicants to its broadcasting programme should have at least an 85% high school general average, at least 85% in English and Filipino, and should pass the PUP College Entrance Test with an average of at least 85%, in addition to submitting departmental documents and passing "the interview and test or writing skills and other talents." For retention, the student "should maintain a general weighted average of 2.5 in all his major subjects."

Two things to take from that. First, the language subjects are screened separately from the general average - broadcasting programmes care about English and Filipino specifically. Second, there is a talent and writing component on top of the entrance test, which is common in production-based programmes and is not something you can cram for the week before.

For the broader admission picture, see college admission requirements in the Philippines.

Note also that programme names in this space are genuinely inconsistent between schools - "BA Broadcasting," "AB Broadcast Communication" and "BA Communication major in Broadcast Communication" all exist, and they are not always governed by the same CHED order. Ask the registrar which degree name appears on the diploma and which CMO the curriculum follows.

Broadcasting, Journalism or Communication?

If you want to produce, this is the degree. If you want to report, see our AB Journalism guide. If you want the broader discipline with room to specialise later, see our AB Communication guide. If the pull is toward campaigns rather than programmes, our advertising and PR guide explains how that side is structured here.

Is BA Broadcasting Right for You?

• It is the longest of the three media degrees in CHED's samples. 149 units, 47 subjects.
• It is production-first. Live, pre-recorded, dramatic, non-dramatic, and post-production are separate required courses with separate outputs.
• Facilities are not optional. Ask to see the studios, the editing suites and the equipment lending policy before you commit.
• Fourth year is either an internship or a full-length production. Find out which before you enrol.
• There is no licence. Your reel is the credential.

Coming from senior high, HUMSS is the usual on-ramp - see our HUMSS strand guide.

Comparing schools? Browse schools on SchoolFinderPH to see programmes and locations side by side.

Sources

• CHED Memorandum Order No. 37, s. 2017 - PSGs for Bachelor of Arts in Broadcasting (BA Broadcasting) Program (official PDF)
• Commission on Higher Education - 2017 CHED Memorandum Orders index
• Professional Regulation Commission - Professional Regulatory Boards
• Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Bachelor of Arts in Broadcasting (BABr), College of Communication