ABS-CBN vs Solar

Will ABS-CBN air more NBA games this season? (photo courtesy of AP)
The ongoing court case between ABS-CBN Sports and Solar Entertainment over who really owns the television rights of the NBA could have an effect on the league's millions of Filipino fans.

ABS-CBN and Solar have filed counter-suits against each other over the case of carriage fees that the network reportedly failed to pay to the Wilson Tieng-owned company.

As a result, Skycable -- an ABS-CBN-owned company -- pulled out both BTV and NBA Premium -- both Solar-owned channels -- from its lineup and many Sky subscribers have since moved to other cable providers like Cignal and Cablelink.

ABS-CBN responded to disgruntled NBA fans by airing additional games on its Sports+Action Channel during the last playoffs while Fox Sports also aired some games but only twice a week because of Solar's contract with the NBA.

As of now, there's no sign on whether both parties are willing to settle the case so there's a strong chance that more Skycable subscribers will cut off their subscriptions.

This puts ABS-CBN in a quandary and the best way for the network to appease the fans would be to air additional games on S+A.

Ken Ti, a friend of mine who works for ABS-CBN Sports, told me on Facebook that the schedules for the new NBA season that will be aired on ABS-CBN S+A will be announced by late September at the earliest.

Hopefully, ABS-CBN can air doubleheaders on S+A to make up for the games that Skycable subscribers won't get to see because of the case filed by Solar. Fox Sports can also air more games but it is also hampered by Solar's contract.

The NBA season opens on October 18, Manila time, with the Boston Celtics facing the Cleveland Cavaliers and the defending champion Golden State Warriors colliding with the Houston Rockets.

Fans hope ABS-CBN airs both these games since the first game will see Kyrie Irving face off against Isaiah Thomas since both players were traded for each other while the Warriors will get their championship rings before facing the Rockets.

ABS-CBN can also help by airing additional weekend games on Channel 2. One Sunday game on the Kapamilya Network is much better than airing a Tagalized Disney movie. A good solution would be for Matanglawin to air on an earlier time slot and for ABS-CBN to move its Sunday cartoons to Saturdays.

NBA fans hope that ABS-CBN and Solar can come up with a compromise that can save the NBA Philippine telecast. Both parties have done an excellent job in making the NBA popular in the Philippines.


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