 By 1999, the costs of operating the station in this format were becoming too high for GMA.The station was turned into a music channel under the interim branding EMC, the "Entertainment Music Channel"which was also the country's first locally operated music channel.A few months later by December 19, 1999, GMA reached a deal with Asian broadcaster STAR TV to allow this channel to be a carrier of Channel V Philippines and it had already aired selected Channel V programming from its international version.