The PBA is back in action.
Yesterday, February 28, the current season 48 of the Philippine Basketball Association moved forward with its second conference: the Philippine Cup.
For fans of Asia’s oldest professional basketball league, a permanent change in the broadcast set-up of the matches welcomed them.
Zoe Broadcasting Network’s A2Z channel has officially dropped live basketball from its primetime programming schedule after airing its last PBA match last month — the fifth game of the Commissioner’s Cup finals between the Magnolia Hotshots and San Miguel Beermen.
Starting with this Philippine Cup, RPTV on channel 9 has become the sole carrier of live PBA games on free-to-air television.
Launched last February 1, RPTV is a result of the collaboration between TV5 Network and Nine Media Corporation.
The channel airs using RPN’s TV frequency that was previously used to broadcast the defunct news station CNN Philippines, where the PBA also used to air its weekend games in January 2024.
Despite the move to channel 9, TV5’s sports division Sports5 still continues to handle the technical side of the coverage of the PBA.
The official schedule of games on RPTV is as follows:
- WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY
- Game 1: 4:30 pm (LIVE on RPTV)
- Game 2: 7:30 pm (LIVE on RPTV)
- SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
- Game 1: 3:00 pm (LIVE on RPTV)
- Game 2: 6:15 pm (LIVE on RPTV)
Aside from RPTV, viewers can also tune in for PBA action to other outlets like PBA Rush on Cignal, Cignal Play, and Pilipinas Live app.