Barangay Ginebra’s victory in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup would have marked the end of a five-year relationship between the league and TV5, but a short offseason could change all that. (Photo credit: The Philippine Star)
The shorter-than-expected offseason could keep the PBA within TV5’s hands.
The 2015-16 season came to an end Wednesday night, when Barangay Ginebra San Miguel broke an eight-year title drought by winning the season-ending Governors’ Cup title over the Meralco Bolts. Game 6 of the Governors’ Cup Finals would have marked the end of a five-year contract that TV5 signed with the PBA back in 2011.
Instead, another year of coverage looms in the seemingly fruitful relationship between the PBA and the Manny V. Pangilinan-owned network.
Two weeks from now, the 2016 PBA Rookie Draft will take place at the Robinsons Place Manila. The draft will be conducted in two batches: a regular draft for early entry applicants, and a special draft for amateur players who were invited to the Gilas pool.
Then on November 20, the season-opening Philippine Cup will get underway. Thus, it will be a very short offseason for the PBA, owing to a long break from late May to mid-July due to the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers that Gilas participated.
With a short turnaround from last season, it is expected that TV5 will remain the main home of the PBA. And there are three reasons why the league could still air on the MVP-owned network, which are:
- The PBA Rush channel, which was only established prior to last season’s Governors’ Cup.
- The lack of other network options due to a variety of circumstances.
- The promotion of Chot Reyes to the role of head honcho within TV5.
With all these situations coming into play, it is clear that the PBA has no other choice. Despite the past issues that the league faced during its initial five-year tenure with TV5, the latter’s progressive steps to improve its coverage indicate that the relationship is an otherwise successful one, contrary to the critics’ perceptions.
One month from now, a new season of the PBA begins. Unfortunately for the league, there is not much time to plan, so it’s safe to say that next year, it will be TV5 who will once again bring the PBA to every television set in the country, for now.
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Obvious naman ang iba: pera pera lang yan to exploit viewers, bingi-bingihan at bulag-bulagan.
For one part though, the unanswered question popped out of my head: “How will Coach Chot balance responsibility on both handling TV5 and Gilas?”
That’s a big how, considering his two positions constitute a lot of roles. Anyway, the PBA won’t have enough rest between seasons thanks to the long FIBA break, so it’s up to them to both maintain and improve the objectives they have last season. And Chot, as the new TV5 head, as well as Commissioner Narvasa and Sports5’s Patricia Hizon, have a tough task awaiting them.
As per Coach Chot Reyes (which is now the president of TV5), TV5 and the PBA have already signed their contract renewal for their PBA coverage in a span of three years.
http://sports.inquirer.net/227279/chot-reyes-eyes-european-reinforcement-for-gilas
As expected. PBA has no choice but to stay with TV5 owing to lack of available alternatives. Now TV5 must improve its coverage in hopes of getting another shot at renewal in three years’ time.