MANILA (BLOOMBERG) - ABS-CBN, the Philippine media giant shut by the government, aired its flagship newscast on social media on Thursday (May 7) night, generating eight million views on Facebook and YouTube and potentially expanding the shuttered broadcaster's platform.

Its prime time news programme TV Patrol, which had been on free TV for more than three decades until it signed off on May 5, also resumed airing via ABS-CBN News' website, its cable channels and streaming service that weren't covered by the regulator's closure order.

The newscast had eight million views on Facebook and 784,000 views on its YouTube channel, which has 9.16 million subscribers. Rival GMA Network Inc's top news programme, which mainly airs on its free TV channel, had 950,000 views on Facebook and 369,000 on YouTube on Thursday.

ABS-CBN has seven of the 10 most-viewed television shows in the Philippines, including the most popular drama Ang Probinsyano with a 30.3 per cent audience share, the broadcaster said in February, citing data from Kantar Media. ABS-CBN's TV Patrol was also among the Top 10 with a 24.5 per cent viewership.

ABS-CBN, which asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to stop the closure order, on Friday said it will pay its debt. "The company remains in a good financial position and we expect to pay all our bank debts in accordance with the existing payment schedule," it said in a stock exchange filing.

Lawmakers will hold hearings on ABS-CBN's franchise, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said in a Facebook post, without saying when. He said the House of Representatives was "ambushed" by the telecommunications commission when it shut ABS-CBN. The commission's chief told lawmakers in March that ABS-CBN will be given provisional authority for its continued operations even as Congress has yet to renew its franchise.

ABS-CBN shares remain suspended from trading since the bourse halted it on May 6.