In 100 Words: No Euroleague on BTV, Again

The Euroleague is arguably the second most widely recognized basketball league in the world, next to the NBA. But its coverage in the Philippines has been rather patchy, at best.

In the past, Basketball TV covered Euroleague matches from the eliminations all the way to the finals. But there have been two instances where BTV did not air any Euroleague games.

In the 2009-10 season, the now-defunct ESPN Star Sports group covered the Euroleague games. This season, the Euroleague was shut out of any sports-centric cable network in the country, presumably due to its lack of popularity among basketball aficionados in the country.

Nobody knows when will Euroleague basketball return to Philippine shores, but for a league so highly regarded, they surely deserve some respect, even from the PBA and Philippine basketball.

Premier League Out of Balls; BeIN Sport Launches

This past August, ABS-CBN‘s Balls Channel announced the airing of Premier League matches on the network, giving loyal soccer fans an opportunity to watch the most popular soccer league in the world. However, with BeIN Sport finally making its long-awaited debut in the Philippines last October 15, ABS-CBN had no choice but to relinquish the airing of Premier League matches on the Balls Channel starting November 1.

BeIN Sport first acquired the rights for the Premier League during the offseason. Previous broadcasters Fox Sports Asia (formerly ESPN Asia) and STAR Sports aired the Premier League for several years, but mounting broadcast rights expenses forced the networks to step aside, and replace them with the lesser-known Dutch Eredivisie. Despite the announcement, BeIN Sport did not reach cable subscribers in time for the start of the Premier League, forcing ABS-CBN to step in on a temporary basis.

After a successful launch in Indonesia last July, MP & Silva finally launched BeIN Sport in the Philippines last October 15. BeIN Sport will have three channels on the HD dial, one of which will be devoted exclusively to the Premier League. Unfortunately, the channels will only be available on HD, thus loyal and fierce soccer fans will have to shell out more money in order to install a high-definition digibox.

The all-Premier League channel BeIN Sport 3 HD is available on Channel 206, while sister network BeIN Sport 2 HD is available on Channel 205, both through SkyCable. Meanwhile, Balls Channel will continue to air the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, with the purpose of quenching the thirst of devoted soccer fans craving for some non-stop soccer action.