A new home for the country’s oldest collegiate league.
On Wednesday, July 15, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officially marked the start of a new era after signing a deal with multi-platform content distributor Cignal TV, Inc.
The said partnership was inked in Makati City by representatives from Cignal’s parent company, MediaQuest Holdings, led by its Chairman Manny Pangilinan, President and CEO Ricky Vargas, and its CFO and Cignal OIC Christopher Lizo.
Meanwhile, the NCAA was represented by its Policy Board President Rev. Fr. Aloysius Ma. Maranan, among other officials.
In a statement during the contract signing, Manny Pangilinan admitted that the group has long been interested in getting back the NCAA under its fold.
Another MediaQuest subsidiary, TV5 through its Sports5 division, previously handled the league for three-year period from 2012 to 2015. At that time, games were first aired through the AKTV on IBC-13, AksyonTV, and later on, the flagship network TV5.
The media and sports mogul noted, “Actually, we have long been trying to get into NCAA for our major group to cover it and I’m glad finally we have succeeded in doing that.”
Pangilinan also shared that the entire group is supporting the endeavor by promoting it. “Welcome to your new home and thank you,” he added.
Meanwhile, speaking to One Sports, Fr. Maranan noted, “We are so grateful for the confidence that has given to NCAA and we believe that this is the beginning of a collaborative effort that will touch the hearts of many Filipino sports lovers because, with Cignal, we’ll be able to bring NCAA and expand its reach throughout the country with all the possible platforms that Cignal would give to NCAA.”
He also said that they have considered the group’s reach on TV (including the free-to-air One Sports channel) and its digital platforms.
“According to the report, this is one of the biggest possible increase of watchers of the NCAA,” the head of the the league’s policy board added.
He also confirmed that the deal they struck is only valid for two seasons, 102 and 103.
“So this is the beginning of the new century and we look forward that from here on, we’ll prepare for a bigger and more exciting, more entertaining, more grassroots participation of our Filipino youth basketball lovers,” Fr. Maranan concluded.
Prior to this, the NCAA had a five-and-a-half-year with GMA Network, which aired games on its main channel (finals games), as well as GTV and Heart of Asia and abroad via GMA Pinoy TV and GMA News TV.
