The new platform will carry all games of the “Grand Old League” live.
During a special media conference held ahead of the opening of the Season 102 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), several members of the media, players, and other stakeholders were gathered at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
During which, a key announcement was made by Miguel Vea, Cignal TV’s Vice President for Sports Business.
“We look forward to presenting the stories of our student athletes on our multiple platforms (of Cignal),” he said.
Vea confirmed that the NCAA games will be airing on the RPTV channel on free-to-air, where matches will be aired every Monday and Thursday.
In addition to that, they will also stream games live on the One Sports YouTube channel and the Cignal Play app every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
But in a first for the league’s over a century-long run, it will have a dedicated channel on pay television called NCAA Next, which Vea divulged to be launching on Cignal channel 264 this September 13, in time for the season 102 kick-off.
The ball game between the San Beda Red Lions and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde will open the season, which is also the first to air under NCAA’s new home.
It was last July 15 when a two-year broadcast deal between the NCAA board and Cignal TV was inked—where the Philippines’ oldest active league will be covered by the company for seasons 102 and 103.
Prior to that, the NCAA had a five-and-a-half-year-long deal with GMA Network, which started in November 2020 and ended with the finals of the women’s volleyball league last April.
Major NCAA games in athletics, aquatics, volleyball, and basketball then aired on GTV starting in 2021, with select men’s basketball championships in its earlier years airing on the flagship GMA channel 7.
Eventually, that was tweaked, with the television setup being arranged that both GTV and Heart of Asia channels carrying the games, which were also made available online via GMA Network’s website and social media pages, as well as abroad via GMA Pinoy TV and GMA News TV.
