More Trouble for Basketball TV with Delayed NBA Playoff Games

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.

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Solar Channels Unavailable on SkyCable, Plus FOX Loses WWE Rights to TV5

Bad news for NBA and WWE fans in the Philippines.

Since last week, Solar Entertainment channels Basketball TV, NBA Premium TV, Jack TV, Solar Sports and CT were unavailable on SkyCable. The message posted by the company is as follows:

SKY regrets to inform its valuable subscribers that Solar channels, namely NBA Premium, BTV, Jack TV, Solar Sports, and CT are temporarily not available. It is unfortunate that it has affected the airing of the NBA playoffs.

Solar has been our valued partner for many years. We are working with them for a resolution, but we cannot comment on the details of our discussions.

NBA fans, however, can continue to watch the playoff games beginning this Sunday, April 16, all through the finals via ABS-CBN Sports + Action and Fox Sports channel. They can check the updated schedules posted here.

The concerns of our subscribers and viewers are of utmost importance to us. Again, we offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

The loss of Solar channels hit NBA fans hard, as Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV air a majority of the games daily per season. As a result, the NBA decided to appease the demands of viewers by assigning two games per day on ABS-CBN’s S+A channel, plus a select amount on Fox Sports Philippines and ABS-CBN Channel 2 while the situation is being fixed.

This is not the first time that SkyCable viewers vented their anger over the company’s issues with Solar Entertainment. In 2008, SkyCable pulled out Basketball TV, Jack TV and Solar Sports in favor of Creative Programs’ own channels due to an alleged television contract issue with Manny Pacquiao, but the channels were later reinstated.

Moving over to the world of sports-entertainment, FOX Philippines stunned Filipino wrestling fans by announcing that they will no longer carry WWE programs on the network after an attempt to negotiate a renewal failed to materialize. The statement can be seen below.

FOX had been a valued partner of the WWE since 2011, airing not only pay-per-views, 205 Live, NXT, Raw and SmackDown, but also complementary programs. However, the network drew the ire of some wrestling fans when it failed to air a select number of pay-per-views following the brand extension last July.

In a related development, TV5 announced that they have agreed to air WWE programs beginning April 30. No further details were made, but the network is expected to use Channel 5, AksyonTV and HYPER as vehicles to broadcast WWE events, both live and recap.

It remains to be seen if TV5 will do the same things that FOX used to do, but regardless, wrestling fans should rejoice this decision. Good luck.

SNL Outdated on Jack TV

In the United States, ‘Saturday Night Live’ has become the ‘Banana Sundae’ of the American people.

After all, the NBC-produced comedy variety show aired 41 seasons since it first started in 1975. Today, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is on its 42nd season and its skits are as funny as ever.

In the Philippines, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is currently aired on Jack TV. But unlike a majority of Jack TV’s shows, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is one of a select few that do not air either via satellite, within hours, or within a week of original U.S. telecast.

In fact, while the show is on its 42nd season in the U.S., Jack TV is still airing the previous season’s set of episodes. Their reasoning is unclear, but due to the Philippines’ strict broadcast regulations, it is likely that Jack TV opted not to air the current season due to fears of profanity and the possible presence of offensive skits.

Sadly, that one-season delay meant that Jack TV will have to wait a year before they can air parodies of the just-concluded 2016 U.S. presidential election. It’s too bad, since the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skits involving eventual winner Donald Trump (portrayed by Alec Baldwin) and Hillary Clinton (portrayed by Kate McKinnon) were trending in various news outlets.

Quite frankly, viewers were missing out on the fun. And it’s not a good thing, considering the recent trend of various cable networks that air new episodes of popular imported shows.

To make matters worse, the presence of streaming sites made watching ‘Saturday Night Live’ online even easier. That said, with these predicaments, Jack TV is clearly at a disadvantage with the said show.

It remains to be seen if Jack TV can finally catch up to what has been an overly outdated and irrelevant broadcast of ‘Saturday Night Live’. Unless the Solar Entertainment-owned network changes its routine soon, the show could become a footnote to an otherwise impressive programming lineup.