Basketball TV’s problems are as frustrating as ever.
Nearly a month after the channel unknowingly disappeared from SkyCable alongside fellow Solar Entertainment channels Solar Sports, Jack TV, NBA Premium TV and CT, viewers are now forced to deal with another concern. And this is something not as troublesome as a mere channel pullout, but is still an issue nonetheless.
Since the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, BTV has aired mostly tape-delayed games, particularly late in the first round and all of the conference semifinals so far. It appears that Solar has officially deferred to NBA Premium TV, FOX Sports and ABS-CBN Sports when it comes to all live playoff games, leaving BTV to air mostly highlights and press conferences.
BTV’s obvious inaction and lack of urgency angered a majority of viewers who expected the channel to deliver when it mattered the most. Many are unhappy with BTV’s delayed broadcasts of playoff games and overemphasis on press conferences and game highlights, and some even went as far as calling BTV ‘crap’ and ‘disgraceful’.
This latest bit of criticism only served to add insult to injury for one of Solar Entertainment’s most well-known channels. With ABS-CBN Sports now serving as the de facto source for NBA basketball to free TV, cable and satellite viewers, BTV is left helpless with the way they harshly treated the NBA Playoffs.
To Solar’s credit, they are still trying their best to give BTV an opportunity to showcase some NBA playoff games to the viewing public. It is the scheduling of these games, not to mention the long-standing issues with SkyCable, however, that leaves a lot to be desired.
That said, it is clear that Solar Entertainment is no longer a good fit to run Basketball TV (and NBA Premium TV for that matter) with all these issues involved. Unless they sell it to a more willing operator like ABS-CBN (click this article for more), expect BTV to endure more problems and criticisms in the coming months.
From the Tube 
I’m not surprise about this development. For sure, they might do the same thing in the last 2 rounds. This channel has some potential to be a great sports channel for a long time but I guess its time to sell their broadcast rights because they can’t even replenish more content outside of the NBA.
They lost FIBA to Sports5, they failed to maintain the coverage of the NCRUCLAA, and they ran into financial trouble while covering the PBL, PBA and US NCAA. It really is Solar’s fault on why BTV has sunk so low now. The finances just don’t come to them.
The only saving grace for the channel is ABS-CBN Sports. And that’s only if Solar allows them to.
I think some netizens are signing the petition to bring back all Solar Channels to Sky Cable because of many subcribers are not happy without these channels
Both parties have two choices, to be honest:
1. Solar and Sky make peace and agree to reinstate the former’s channels to the lineup
2. Solar sells Basketball TV and NBA Premium to ABS-CBN, as long as the latter does not turn both channels to SkyCable-exclusive ones.
We can only hope for the best regarding the resolution of this issue.