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FILIPINOS could watch on their television sets the 2008
Beijing Olympics 24 hours a day, seven days a week
through Solar Sports.
Jude
Turcuato, Solar Entertainment Corp. vice president for
sales and marketing, said a comprehensive coverage of
various sports in the Olympics will be shown from
opening to the closing ceremonies with Solar Sports as
the flagship network over five other cable stations that
will carry the event.
“It has
never happened before that the Olympics will be shown
24/7 here. We will use all footage coming from
Beijing
from all the sports,” Turcuato told Tuesday’s Philippine
Sportswriters Association Forum at the Shakey’s United
Nations Avenue.
Filipino
athletes’ exploits in boxing, taekwondo, archery,
aquatics and shooting, and sports which interest
Filipinos like basketball, will be shown on C/S on
RPN-9.
All
basketball events will be seen on Basketball TV, while
sports that cater to the women audience like gymnastics
and volleyball will be telecast on Solar’s two
female-oriented networks—ETC on SBN-21 and 2nd Avenue on
RJTV-29.
Turcuato
said Solar will send a small crew to cover the Games
on-site.
Turcuato
also told the same forum that Solar, the incoming
coveror of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA),
doesn’t mind forging a three-year partnership worth
millions with a league perceived by some to have lost
its luster.
At the
end of the day, according to Turcuato,
Asia’s first ever play-for-pay league remains the undisputed top
sports entertainment in the country.
“Despite
the perception na bumagsak ang PBA, in terms of
ratings, mas mataas pa rin ang PBA than any other
sports in town, be it the NBA, the UAAP, NCAA and
others.
“Even in
ticket sales and attendance, PBA remains on top. And
these are paying fans who are there to watch their
favorite players and teams,” said Turcuato, citing
surveys and figures made by at least two independent
media agencies about the viability and popularity of the
34-year-old pro league.
Solar
Entertainment clinched a three-year deal to be the new
television partner of the PBA. The contract hovered
close to P500 million and immediately starts during the
annual PBA Rookie Draft that formally kicks off the
league’s 2008-09 season.
While it
is taking over ABC-5, the coveror of the PBA for the
past five years, Turcuato said Solar is looking at
carrying on the legacy left by the station owned by Tony
Boy Cojuangco.
“We want
to build on the same ABC 5 coverage,” admitted the
part-time sports broadcaster in the same session
sponsored by Shakey’s, the Philippine Amusement and
Gaming Corp., Accel, Brickroad Gym and Aspen Spa and
MedCentral Medical Clinics and Diagnostic Center.
“In
fairness to them, ABC-5 has really done a great job
covering the league the past few years. They were able
to bring the league closer to the masses. So what we
want to do is add something na hindi pa nila nagagawa,
and that is try to capture the A, B and C crowd.”
Live PBA
games will be aired over RPN-9 in its usual time slot
every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and have an immediate
replay over Basketball TV on the same day as soon as the
actual matches are over.
The BTV
coverage also include footages and stories behind the
camera such as dugout interviews, in-depth analysis and
post game press conferences with coaches and players.
Gearing
to upgrade its coverage on the technical side, Turcuato
said Solar Sports has purchased new television equipment
for clearer and better reception of PBA games and action
in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) as well.
With the
PBA coming on board, Solar now airs three of the most
watched and most followed basketball leagues in the
country after the PBL and the NBA.
Turcuato
doesn’t see the three basketball leagues overlapping
with each other.
“They
actually complement one another. NBA games are mostly
shown in the morning while the PBA is in the evening.
The PBL usually holds its games on days where the PBA
has no playing schedule,” he added. |
