Record crowds like last October’s NU-FEU UAAP men’s basketball title match were a key reason why the UAAP and ABS-CBN Sports decided to renew their existing broadcast deal. (Photo credit: ABS-CBNNews.com)
Signed, sealed, and delivered.
As expected, the UAAP decided to renew its existing broadcast rights deal with ABS-CBN Sports for another five years. The extended contract will begin starting Season 78 (2015-16) and will last through Season 82 (2019-20).
This will ensure that the partnership between the UAAP and ABS-CBN will reach its 20th year once it wraps up its newest contract, making it the longest tenured broadcast deal among the current sports leagues in the country.
The latest contract extension was not without any obstacles, however. Back in February, TV5’s sports division (Sports5) submitted a letter of intent to the UAAP board with regards to the league’s television broadcasts.
Sports5 would have been a great partner for the UAAP. Unfortunately, their poor handling of the NCAA broadcasts, not to mention the lack of extensive promotion and coverage in sports other than basketball, proved to be a hindrance that is too much to overcome.
The decision to renew the existing contract was based on the league’s recent spike in popularity. Leading the way are men’s basketball and women’s volleyball, which continues to be the focus of attention in ABS-CBN’s coverage.
True to form, both disciplines attracted record crowds during the past few years, especially during the championship series. In fact, in the last three title deciders in either men’s basketball or women’s volleyball, over 20,000 spectators packed both the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Mall of Asia Arena.
Even more impressive was the fact that ABS-CBN Sports began to show weekly live coverage of men’s football and men’s volleyball via Balls HD 167, with the said sports continuing to air on tape-delay via ABS-CBN Sports+Action. As the new contract gets underway, expect an even more extensive coverage of other UAAP sports, in various platforms.
That said, the renewal of broadcast rights between the UAAP and ABS-CBN Sports should only further the league’s increasing popularity. The UAAP may now be more popular than ever before, but without the help of ABS-CBN Sports, it may have never achieved the blockbuster success that it has enjoyed today.
From the Tube 
It’s a good thing that ABS-CBN and the UAAP came to terms very quickly. It cannot be denied that ABS-CBN has done such a good job with the UAAP. TV5 and the PBA also share a similarly good relationship except in the marketing aspect.
TV5 needs a good sports marketing person to attract more ads to the PBA coverage.
Indeed. Mostly hardware products ang nasa PBA ngayon, which won’t help attracting the mainstream.
Big advertisers kasi are shying away from the PBA. It’s been like that for a long time due to the fact that competing products of PBA teams aren’t being advertised in the games.
New development: Streetdance competition will be returned this Season 77, this will be held on February 8 at MOA Arena.
In another development, today is the first year of Channel 23 as Sports+Action.
Happy anniversary Sports+Action. And it’s good that they’ll bring back the streetdance competition as a complement to the cheerdance competition during basketball season.
NBA today on S+A will be aired at 11:30 am delayed because of the Papal coverage. Top Rank Boxing tonight will be at 9 pm after the NBA replay.
Hay, salamat. Last year or last season kasi, medyo kinapos ang AdU to address that Streetdance Challenge on UAAP. Kaya dinaan na lang nila ang pagtatapos ng Season 76 into simple dinner. They started doing that competition in 2010/2011, at the end of UAAP-73.
Asian Cup football tonight on S+A at 11 pm after the replay of the NBA game.
Hey Mr. Sunday. Please don’t repeat the same comment all over again. Nakakabore na kasi saka alam na namin. Kung may alam ka rin sa other days of the week we can appreciate it.
The Monday NBA game on S+A will also be delayed, but not to worry, since BTV is carrying the same game that S+A will air.
Streetdance used to close out the UAAP season, but now it’s moved within the volleyball season. That said, don’t expect another elaborate closing ceremonies like in the past.
Confirmed: UAAP Season 78 coverage will start on September 5. Laura Lehmann and Jennine Tsoi returning as courtside reporters for both Ateneo and La Salle.
And as per Ken Ti’s comment, they will not do the way that NCAA did with their coverage.
At least the coverage setup of UAAP and NCAA will be different. Upperclass ang target ng UAAP at naging household name na rin. Meanwhile, NCAA targets the masa audience, yung broadcast setup is almost similar to the way Sports5 handles NCAA minus Moneyball and heidi moments.
While UAAP’s coverage will stick to its successful formula, it is likely that they’ll adopt the new 16:9 HD standard for Sports+Action SD broadcasts (with letterboxes, of course) that the NCAA is now using.
UAAP 78 Broadcast Panel:
Anchors
Boom Gonzalez
Mico Halili
Nikko Ramos
Eric Tipan
Analysts
TJ Manotoc
Renren Ritualo
Mark Molina
Marco Benitez
Christian Luanzon
Enzo Flojo
Adrian Dy
Kirk Long
Courtside reporters & segment host:
Stef Monce – Adamson
Laura Lehmann – Ateneo
Ganiel Krishnan – FEU
Jennine Tsoi – La Salle
Ira Pablo – NU
Pauline Verzosa – UE
Angelique Manto – UST
Nina Alvia – UP
Janeena Chan
(dont forget Ronnie Magsanoc as analyst.)
Sobrang solid tong line up ng broadcast team ng UAAP and it is a good decision for Mico Halili na magbalik sa pagiging commentator by going back to the league which turn around his broadcasting career.
Last time Mico called a UAAP game was back in Season 65, yung title season ng Ateneo. He may still double as an anchor for Sportsdesk on CNNPH in addition to his UAAP duties. Total UAAP games happen in the afternoon while Sportsdesk airs nightly.
It is also a good thing that ABS opted for a different cast of on-air personalities for the UAAP, just to balance the workload. But remember, this is just the men’s basketball tournament. The volleyball tournaments have different analysts.
Will the UAAP still utilize the Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays games?
Yes.
Season 80 changes:
So far, no addition to the MBB coverage panel (Boom, TJ, Mico, Eric etc.), we don’t know yet their new additions.
A new batch of courtside reporters
Ex-courtside reporters now reporting as “UAAP Insiders”
Upfront at the UAAP is no longer a live pre-game show with new hosts
Also, TV timeouts in men’s basketball which don’t count to either team. Seems like they’re doing this to further commercialize the league and lengthen airtime.
New addition so far: Bea Daez, which happens to be part of the original hosts of Upfront. She will served as an analyst for men’s basketball.
She also called the women’s basketball finals last year, so she’s no stranger to calling a UAAP game.