The defending grand slam champions Purefoods Star Hotshots (formerly San Mig Super Coffee Mixers) and 11 other teams will once again wage war as the PBA kicks off its 40th season on the TV5 family of networks. (Photo credit: Purefoods Star Hotshots official Facebook)
The Philippine Basketball Association is definitely back on TV5.
Starting with the 2014-15 season, all games of the PBA will now be seen on the flagship TV5 network every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Kapatid network last aired a full slate of PBA games during the 2007-08 season, when it was still under the ABC branding.
As a result of the PBA’s full-time return to TV5, here is the new schedule that will be implemented during weekday games:
4:15 p.m. – PBA first game
6:30 p.m. – Aksyon Prime
7:00 p.m. – PBA second game
9:15 p.m. – Wattpad Presents
9:45 p.m. – The Amazing Race Philippines 2
There will be no changes to the schedules on Saturdays and Sundays, as the PBA games usually occupy the more vacant slots.
In addition, Radyo5 92.3 News FM will now air a majority of the PBA games for its radio listeners. As a result, here is the weekday schedule for Radyo5 during PBA game days:
6:00 a.m. – Orly Mercado All Ready
7:30 a.m. – Punto Asintado
9:00 a.m. – Bitag Live
10:00 a.m. – Aksyon Solusyon
11:00 a.m. – Cristy FerMinute
12:30 p.m. – Relasyon
2:00 p.m. – Wanted sa Radyo
4:15 p.m. – PBA first game
6:30 p.m. – Aksyon Prime
7:00 p.m. – PBA second game
9:15 p.m. – Remoto Control
Radyo5 will also air Sunday games in lieu of its all-music program ‘Sunday By Heart’. However, it remains to be seen if they will also carry Saturday playdates, since the majority of these games will be held in the provinces.
In a related development, Sports5 announced that AksyonTV will once again simulcast the PBA games. Last season, AksyonTV carried the bulk of the PBA schedule, which unfortunately, brought not only criticism but also confusion from the viewing public.
This time around, however, the simulcast of the PBA games on AksyonTV seem more like a need rather than an option for the embattled station. Following the demise of AKTV and the integration of Sports5 events to AksyonTV, the station has been criticized for airing too many re-runs whenever there are no sports events to cover, since the ‘AksyonTV originals’ were cancelled just for this move.
For cable subscribers, Fox Sports Asia will continue to air the PBA games on Wednesdays, with English-language commentary from Sports5 announcers. They will also air the cup finals in its entirety.
Hyper will also air replays of the PBA games, albeit exclusive only to Cignal subscribers. And finally, for online subscribers, the PBA can now be seen via livestreaming on the official PBA on Sports5 website.
In two days, the 2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup gets underway. For the 12 teams participating, and to the TV5 family of networks, good luck in giving the fans a whole lot of basketball action all season long.
From the Tube 
The renaming of the defending PBA Grandslam champion team was likely done last-minute to avoid confusion with the rechristened-this-year San Miguel Beermen, formerly known as Petron Blaze Boosters.
The Amazing Race Philippines Season 2 will air everyday at 9pm starting October 20. What will happen next to ‘Wattpad Presents’ is still unannounced by TV5 as of this posting.
There’s a new Wattpad story confirmed this Monday, which is Dyepni starring Alwyn Uytingco and Jennica Garcia. And they decided to switch timeslots with TARP in order to have the latter show the same timeslot as on weekends.
As for the renaming of the Purefoods franchise back to its original name, it was long overdue. I guess the fans were not happy when they were renamed B-Meg and then San Mig Coffee, so the rebrand was due to inisistent demand from their loyal fans.
Nice for TV5 again to simulcast all the game on Aksyon TV 41. You see if you are in Mega Manila, Aksyon TV is more advance in signal than TV5.
Then again, the AksyonTV simulcasts are out of necessity, because they would end up airing too many reruns if they did not take the appropriate action. And since they don’t have enough money to produce new programs exclusive to the station, airing the PBA may be their best option for now.
The Aksyon Primetime anchored by the News5 chief Luchi Cruz-Valdez and Erwin Tulfo will air for 30 minutes only. This can be considered a huge slap on the people manning the News5 Reliance Center. The reduction in airtime in favor of a more formidable program that is PBA should send a signal to LCV that she is not doing enough for the organization she heads. Their airtime is just roughly 1/3 of the airtimes given to its counterparts 24 Oras and TV Patrol.
Then again, TV5 heeded the PBA’s urge to air all the games on TV5, considering last year’s debacle.
And besides, they have Aksyon sa Tanghali at noontime and Aksyon Tonite during late nights, so that may also help alleviate Aksyon Prime’s burdens.
http://www.sports5.ph‘s live streaming on internet has the pre-game and post-game discussions of the panel, as well as interviews after the game with the Best Player and the press conference of the winning coach inside the press room. This is not seen on TV due to time constraints.
In short, online na lang yung Sports5 Center.
At least, this is a good move for Sports5 para sa mga nabitin sa panonood ng coverage sa TV. Tutal, uso na ang online streaming.
Indeed. Saka malawak ang online presence ng TV5, as evidenced by the growing views on News5Everywhere.
Kung sa Aksyon Prime, sabay ineere ang patalastas ng TV5 At Aksyon TV, bakit kaya pag patalastas ng PBA sa TV5 ,may may advertisers, pero sa Aksyon TV, bakit walang advertisers?
Dahil VHF commercial station ang TV5, at UHF lang ang AksyonTV. Mas maraming tututok sa TV5 kaya nilagay mga ads diyan tuwing PBA games. AksyonTV only acts as a decoy kung baga.
Good move for them. Now they can focus on the PBA, PSL, and the Olympics.
Especially since the NCAA is back with ABS-CBN Sports. TV5’s sports priorities are always the club and international competitions nowadays.
The PSL beach volleyball starts July 18. TV5 will also cover the FIBA 3X3 on August 1 and 2. Most likely, TV5 will also cover the FIBA Asia in September because the Gilas team will be made up entirely of PBA players.
Exactly. That’s what they’re focusing now.