PBA assures no major change in exposure as TV5, ABS-CBN arrange blocktime deal
The PBA assured that its television deal with TV5 won’t be severely affected after the latter forged an agreement with ABS-CBN to air some of its primetime programs.
Questions as to whether the PBA coverage will be bumped off from Manny V. Pangilinan’s flagship channel were raised after TV5 entered into a blocktime agreement that will allow ABS-CBN to air its primetime shows daily.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial and league chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT assured that TV5 is fully committed to give the league the deserved exposure.
“There are no major changes, in fact it’s an enhancement, especially with additional PBA content at PBA Rush,” Vargas said, referring to the PBA-only cable channel available through Cignal.
“We will still be at TV5 and that has not changed, and if we have special games there are sports channels at TV5 so that would not be an issue at all,” added Vargas.
Marcial said that PBA games will still be on TV5 every Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with playdates held outside of those days to be shown on UHF channel One Sports and PBA Rush.
It was the same arrangement during last season’s bubble when the league was forced to hold games on a daily basis.
But the PBA has been gaining significant following through social media, with some of the games during the bubble garnering big viewership.
TV5 was the second channel to air shows of ABS-CBN, which is venturing into blocktime deals after its franchise was not renewed by the House of Representatives last year.
ABS-CBN first entered into an agreement with ZOE TV, later renamed to A2Z, to air some of its shows on channel 11.