As the league’s season reboot is just around the corner, what’s going to be the broadcast set-up come October 9?
After the government imposed quarantine measures in mid-March, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)’s 2020 Philippine Cup was only at around 2 playing days. Hence, when the tournament suspended all games until further notice, its broadcast partner TV5 had to find ways to carry on until at least April – the most positive outlook then.
As part of the network’s temporary measures, they replayed older PBA games on timeslots allotted for the league. Mind you, that this happened during the time that 5 was in transition to (the now cancelled) One TV. Meaning, repeats of older TV5 shows mostly made up the remainder of the schedule.
Fast forward to June, a major Kapatid overhaul was already in the works. Reruns were being replaced one after another by new titles like US dramas Betty en NY and Gotham. The other vacant spots in the schedule are also being filled by movies and other shows from Cignal TV, TV5’s affiliate.
By mid-August, TV5 launched the first tranche of new local entertainment shows, most notably 2 game shows on primetime – PBA’s main turf in the network’s programming grid. As what many understand is that the Kapatid network was adamant that the league could return anytime soon and placed Fill in the Bank and Bawal na Game Show in its place to temporarily fill the gap.
But as the month September entered, quarantine guidelines were slowly being relaxed. The PBA board has been given the go-signal to create a ‘bubble’ ala-NBA – in which no one is allowed to move in and out freely. Fans would no longer be shoulder to shoulder to one another as it’s been said that virtual audiences via teleconferencing will be the new norm. With a bunch of other safety guidelines in place and Clark being chosen as the home of the bubble, the league finally spread the word about its return on October 9.
The announcement, however, came in the midst of TV5’s build up of the second wave of new local programming this October. The most headlined of which are Brighlight productions that include 2 noontime programs that will span the entire week. On weekends, (as per Brightlight’s press release), a program every Sunday at 4pm will also be launched. That timeslot is particularly the start time of PBA’s Superball Sunday coverage for the past couple of years.
In a report by SPIN, PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial understands that “TV5’s programming has become crowded.” Adding that broadcasting all games live on channel 5 will be “hard” for the station. But confirmed that the current Wednesday-Friday-Sunday setup will remain intact. Games that can’t be carried live, though, are said to be aired on a delayed telecast the following day.
But fans on free TV need not to worry as One Sports on channel 41 will be picking up the slack and broadcast the entire 49-day bubble live. Together with sister Cignal channel PBA Rush and a livestreaming portal, the league assures that the all the action can still be seen in real-time.
As TV5 doubles down on entertainment content anew, it’s become imperative that One Sports would be the de facto home of Kapatid sports fans. But as many consider channel 5’s sporting content as its main selling point, the broadcast of PBA games on the mothership is still expected to continue… at least until this season ends.
The PBA’s new broadcast schedule on TV5, One Sports, PBA Rush, and the livestreaming portal link are all expected to be disclosed in the coming days.