The first week of NBA playoff coverage on Basketball TV will focus on less popular teams like the Raptors and Pacers, rather than the more highly followed ones like the Warriors and Cavaliers. (Photo credit: Solar Entertainment)
The NBA Playoffs have not been kind to Basketball TV these days.
When the NBA released its playoff schedule for Filipino broadcast partners, five things stood out for Basketball TV as far as the first week of coverage is concerned. They are:
- No assigned game to BTV for April 20, Wednesday. The said date (Manila time) will feature Game 2 of both the Hawks/Celtics and Spurs/Grizzlies series.
- A combined six appearances in eight playdates for either the Raptors/Pacers or the Heat/Hornets series, with the other two assigned to the Hawks/Celtics series.
- No Western Conference games, plus the Cavaliers/Pistons series.
- No doubleheaders.
- Three games shared with either ABS-CBN or ABS-CBN Sports+Action (Heat/Hornets on April 21, Raptors/Pacers on April 22, Hawks/Celtics on April 23).
This means that viewers on BTV will have to endure watching less popular teams such as the Raptors, Hornets and Pacers on a regular basis rather than the more marquee ones like the Warriors, Spurs and Cavaliers. So much for maintaining balance of coverage.
Even worse for the network is the lack of game coverage on select playdates. That will be the case tomorrow, as the NBA did not assign one game for BTV.
So what was left for BTV to do? They have no choice but to air the postgame edition of NBA Gametime, then replay it over and over again until the next game concludes.
Very unfortunate indeed. And that has been the case for the past few years.
Regardless of the expected negative reaction, it was and always will be the NBA’s decision to assign these games, so there’s no need to complain on it. That said, subscribing to both NBA Premium and Fox Sports Philippines is necessary to everyone who can’t stand BTV’s coverage.
If not, just endure the Taglish coverage of ABS-CBN Sports for this year’s playoffs. Good luck with that.
From the Tube 
For me, when watching NBA games, I prefer to watch thru live streaming (either ESPN, ABC or TNT) while I’m at work. I don’t even have cable at home to watch these games (although I rarely watch at S+A or ABS). S+A aired most Western conference teams earlier this week. But anyway, I don’t think BTV to have bias on airing some games of less popular NBA teams but maybe sooner, they will air conference semis and conf. finals featuring popular teams (if they’ll advance).
Live streaming is good, but it’s only good when the internet connection is at its best. It won’t do any good if many are sharing the same wifi.
BTV usually gets its games through NBA TV International, and the NBA has control of its international feed and its choice of games. The reason why we think it was a biased decision by the league is due to the overemphasis on just two series: Raptors/Pacers and Heat/Hornets. They really deserve a more balanced coverage between all eight series, but it doesn’t really make sense if only two series are featured. Should any of the eight series go to Game 5, 6 and/or 7, good, but until then, this isn’t what the fans have in mind. And expect the fact that no games at all will be aired on BTV on a particular day, which should only anger fans.
At isa pa, not all cable operators carry NBA Premium TV (I got NBA Premium TV on my cable subscription) since most of them carry BTV instead (especially in my area where my cable provider does have NBA Premium TV and the other one does not carry NBA Premium TV lately).
We have no choice but to respect the decision of the NBA. Sila ang naglagay ng schedule sa BTV, NBA Premium, FOX Sports, ABS-CBN at S+A and they have no choice but to follow NBA.
If not, just subscribe to NBA League Pass on Globe in order to watch all games.
Sometimes kasi nag-bubuffer ung live streaming kaya nakiki-live scoring updates lang ako thru NBA.com or ESPN.com (but in rare cases). About NBA playoffs coverage, first-round playoff series may not be serious enough (usually kasi mga lopsided games), but some might be interesting. Hoping they will cover all games of conference semis since there are only 4 series (8 teams) left.
Again, it’s the NBA’s decision to assign games. Once it reaches the conference finals and finals, everyone will be involved. Let’s just wait and see how it turns out.
Well with the situation between Sky Cable and Solar, the fans might need to watch S+A to get their fix of playoff action. And we might need to tune in on S+A because at least in the first week most of games will be aired on free TV maybe as a way for Solar and Sky to let fans still watch the games without waiting for BTV and NBA Premium to return on air.
Then again, there’s League Pass and livestream for those who want to watch the other games especially those that air in the wee hours. Plenty of ways to watch the NBA besides TV.
As for the Sky-Solar situation, Sky has no explanation as to why the Solar channels disappeared; they just told viewers to wait while they fix this issue. Unfortunately, the two parties have had a poor history (remember the 2008 pullout?), and viewers wondered if there’s some sort of sabotage to disrupt the signals.