NBA TV in the Philippines

Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc covering NBA Games for Philippine televiewers (Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN)

Here in the US, there are lots of channels where basketball fans can watch the NBA games. There's ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV for nationally televised games and CSN here in our California area for Golden State Warriors games. And there is also NBA League Pass but it entails additional money for subscription.

The NBA has become so popular that other countries also air the league's games live. And the Philippines is no exception.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s, NBA games were shown on Philippine free TV delayed by a week, All that changed when Solar Entertainment acquired the NBA TV rights in 2006 then put up the cable channels Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV that show 24 hours of NBA programming everyday.

ESPN Asia also aired NBA games before the channel sold its Asian stocks to Fox Sports which continues broadcasting NBA games on Thursdays and Saturdays.

On free TV, Solar brought the NBA games to RPN 9 before it became CNN Philippines. ABS-CBN has been televising NBA games since hooking up with Solar in 2010 until today.

Most games are shown on ABS-CBN Sports+Action Channel 23 while Saturday games are aired over Channel 2 with Filipino commentary provided by former PBA superstars Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc.

Two years ago, ABS-CBN tried airing Sunday games on Channel 2 but moved them to Saturdays to accommodate its Tagalog-dubbed kiddie movies on Sundays, as well as making sure that the noontime show ASAP starts exactly at 12 noon. 

Besides, airing an NBA game on Sundays could pose risks for ASAP starting late if the game goes into overtime. After all, ASAP starting late is a problem since it means less musical numbers for Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano and ABS-CBN's young stars.

Still, ABS-CBN is the best choice for the NBA because TV5 is more into PBA while GMA 7 doesn't have a sports division which was very glaring when it lost the Shakey's V League volleyball broadcast rights to ABS-CBN last year.

The ABS-CBN coverage on Channel 2 uses Tagalog commentary to make sure the masa viewers understand the game as seen through the eyes of Paras and Magsanoc, who combine their sense of humor with their knowledge of basketball based on their experience as teammates in college, commercial ball and the PBA.

Other sportscasters like TJ Manotoc, Boom Gonzales, Anton Roxas and Andrei Felix have also done Tagalog commentary for the NBA. Manotoc and Gonzales have even been sent to cover NBA Finals and All-Star Games here in the US.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Troubles at RX

Image
Photo of Gino Quillamor's tweet to Chico Garcia that led to Gino leaving RX. ANOTHER major blow has struck Monster RX 93.1 with the departure of Gino Quillamor from the morning show The Morning Rush. Quillamor left the show last week after being with Chico Garcia and Delamar Arias for close to a decade. Since then, he has not intimated of any plans to join another FM radio station. Earlier, Arias retired from RX in January this year to focus on marriage and motherhood. She resurfaced on Magic 89.9 to host the weekly show The Mother Show on Friday Madness mornings with Andi Manzano and Riki Flores. Quillamor and Arias's departures from RX have further weakened the station's lineup of DJs. In a previous post, other RX jocks have also left due to various reasons, such as recently married couple Andre Co and Cerah Hernandez, Jay Abastillas, Jinri Park, Sel Guevara, Carla Lizardo, Chris Schneider and Karen Bordador, who still remains in jail due to drug charges. As
Read more

The NFL on Philippine TV

Image
THE National Football League will finally have a Philippine TV carrier this season. A day ago, TV5 announced in its social media sites that it will air one NFL game every Monday, Tuesday and Friday live at 8 am with replays over its sister cable channel Hyper for Cignal subscribers. NFL games have been irregularly televised in the Philippines because obviously, many Pinoys don't understand the rules of American football. Previously, ABS-CBN tried airing the NFL on its defunct Studio 23 but the games didn't catch on with many viewers. And now, TV5 is gambling on the NFL as it tries to keep pace with ABS-CBN's Sports+Action 23 which airs the NBA, UAAP and NCAA games. Under TV5's schedule, the following NFL games will be televised: Monday mornings (Sunday Night Football on NBC) Tuesday mornings (Monday Night Football on ESPN) Friday mornings (Thursday Night Football on NFL Network) The Sunday morning, US time, games will not be televised on TV5 since the
Read more

NBASunDOS: Much Better than NBASabaDOS

Image
IF there is one thing that ABS-CBN Sports should do in order to improve its coverage of the NBA games, it's that it has to add more weekend games on its flagship station Channel 2. At present, the NBA on ABS-CBN is only on Saturday mornings. The first half is delayed but the second game comes in live with the usual Taglish commentary coming from PBA legends Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc. On Fridays, Sundays and Mondays, ABS-CBN airs its NBA telecast on its sister channel S+A which used to be the old Studio 23 that aired a number of canned shows in the 90s. As I have posted many times on this blog, ABS-CBN should add one Sunday game on Channel 2 aside from its regular Saturday games.  Here are the reasons why ABS-CBN should add a Sunday game on Channel 2. 1. It's better than a Tagalized Disney movie. The Sunday morning time slot on ABS-CBN is usually reserved for kids who stay at home with their families. But a big problem in that time slot is the K
Read more