The 2015 NBA All-Star Game will take place at Madison Square Garden. (Photo credit: National Basketball Association)
The NBA’s midseason showcase is a few days away.
This year’s All-Star Weekend will take place in two different venues within New York City. The Rising Stars Challenge and All-Star Saturday will be held at Barclays Center, while the All-Star Game will be played at Madison Square Garden.
The NBA All-Star Weekend will be covered in the Philippines by the following networks:
- ABS-CBN Sports – Rising Stars Challenge on Channel 2. All-Star Saturday and All-Star Game on Sports+Action Channel 23. Broadcast team will be Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc, augmented by Turner Sports and NBA TV International feed.
- Basketball TV – All events, plus live coverage of All-Star practice, Adam Silver press conference, and Jam Session. Delayed coverage of Celebrity Game and D-League All-Star Game. Will use Turner Sports, ESPN and NBA TV International English-language feed. Pre-taped player interviews with Riki Flores to be aired throughout the week.
- NBA Premium – All events, plus live coverage of All-Star practice, Adam Silver press conference, Jam Session, Celebrity Game and D-League All-Star Game. Will use Turner Sports, ESPN and NBA TV U.S. English-language feed.
In addition, the NBA All-Star events will be aired via NBA League Pass for Globe mobile subscribers.
The NBA All-Star Weekend in New York City will take place from February 14 to 16 (Manila time).
Good luck to all the competitors.
Also be reminded that Jinno Rufino will leave Sportsdesk today because he will work full-time with Basketball TV and Solar. (that’s because, next week possibly will be the launching of CNN PH)
CNN Phil did not accommodate Jinno as one of its talents. Even Hillary Isaac will have to say goodbye to Daybreak because of the transition.
It is also possible that Sportsdesk will no longer be retained on CNNPH, and that Cesca Litton may suffer the same fate as her erstwhile broadcast partner. Baka World Sport PH na ang ipapalit rito.
With what you said, I agree. Both Jinno and Cesca not only hosted Sports Desk, they were also involved behind the cameras.
IMO, there’s really no need to broadcast the NBA games on ABS-CBN, since it’s a general entertainment channel. They should air it instead on Balls (for cable subscribers) and ABS-CBN Sports + Action (for free TV subscribers).
BTW, let’s go back to the past. Who remembers the time when GMA was the official coveror of the NBA games during the 1980’s and 1990’s?
NBA still has a cable contract with Solar, and the only way ABS can get all the coverage is if Solar sells NBA Premium and BTV to them, which is close to impossible. Remember, ABS only got to join forces with Solar in response to a need, since Solar has no more available free TV outlets after the rebrand of RPN/Solar TV to ETC and then to Solar News.
GMA’s coverage was mostly delayed basis, since the technology at the time was primitive to say the least. GMA’s last NBA game to date was Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals between the Bulls and SuperSonics, and they were simulcast on Citynet 27. They even held a raffle during the series, as seen on this ad:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/40541_109563849097270_1830079_n.jpg?oh=4f541032ab426cdce207d2193bd06027&oe=55871574&__gda__=1431919969_f44654d8abf438ba69b5e6ef5f8fb55e
However, that was the year before the Philippines sent a broadcast team to cover a major NBA event, and the first to get that distinction was Vintage/IBC-13, which sent Quinito Henson and Andy Jao to cover the 1997 All-Star Game and the NBA Finals.