Balitang Bisdak

Presented from the studios of GMA TV Cebu, it provides news and features around Cebu City and province of the same name and the rest of Central Visayas including Negros Oriental (including Dumaguete City), Bohol, and Siquijor; as well as the Cebuano-speaking areas of Eastern Visayas (including Southern Leyte and Leyte) and interviewees speak Waray, through the station's news teams and stringers across the two regions.

The newscast airs every Monday to Friday from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM on GMA TV-7 Cebu and via satellite on relay stations GMA TV-10 Tacloban, GMA TV-11 Bohol and GMA TV-12 Ormoc. It is also aired on a slightly-delayed basis over radio station DYSS 999 AM at 6:00 PM.

Balitang Bisdak is also re-aired for national viewers under GMA News TV's primetime block "GMA Regional TV Strip" on a weekly basis. It airs every Tuesday at 9:45 PM since May 19, 2020.[2]

The newscast was first aired on Channel 7 in Cebu on October 4, 1999, two years after Bobby Nalzaro left Bombo Radyo Cebu in 1997 and transfers to GMA Cebu to be a regional news anchor and became a solo anchor of the newscast until 2005 when Cecille Quibod-Castro became anchor with Nalzaro, and in 2009 when Atty. Rose Versoza joined in the newscast and stayed until 2015.

To strengthen its commitment of bringing the latest, most credible and most comprehensive news from the region, in July 2013, the newscast started its international broadcast on GMA News TV International alongside other regional newscasts Balitang Amianan (formerly 24 Oras North Central Luzon and 24 Oras Amianan) and One Mindanao (formerly Testigo, 24 Oras Southern Mindanao and 24 Oras Davao).[3]

Balitang Bisdak ended its 15th year run on November 7, 2014 as it adopts the branding of its now-main newscast 24 Oras into 24 Oras Central Visayas effective November 10.

However, on February 1, 2016, 24 Oras Central Visayas reverted its branding back to Balitang Bisdak, after more than a year hiatus opposite GMA Dagupan's Balitang Amianan.[4]

On January 2, 2017, the newscast updated its opening billboard and lower third graphics similar to 24 Oras, together with other newscasts Balitang Amianan and 24 Oras Davao, later One Mindanao.

On November 13, 2017, Balitang Bisdak was relaunched similar to sister newscasts Balitang Amianan and One Mindanao, and it is now available in major parts of Central and Eastern Visayas, by simulcasting the program through its relay stations in Tacloban, Bohol and Ormoc. Veteran reporter Alan Domingo joined Nalzaro and Quibod-Castro in the anchor team.[5]

Two days after the launch of GMA Regional TV Weekend News, on July 29, 2019, Balitang Bisdak updated their graphics and introduced a modified logo and new opening titles patterned with its co-produced national newscast (featuring the sceneries of the program's coverage area). For the first time, the newscast had a more relaxed set-up with couches instead of the tables and chairs that viewers usually see on typical newscasts intending to be an extension of viewers' living room, further connecting the news anchors and the viewers. In addition to the new studio set, Balitang Bisdak opens its doors to the public as it invites viewers to participate as live studio audience every Friday.[6]

On June 29, 2020, due to the rising COVID-19 cases in Cebu, Balitang Bisdak and One Western Visayas temporarily merged to form a temporary unified Visayan newscast, with all of its reports being carried over to the Iloilo-Bacolod station for a period of time. The Visayan newscast was dubbed as "GMA Regional TV Special Coverage: COVID-19 Crisis in Cebu".