BTV Robbed by NBA’s Biased Scheduling Assignments

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. No Western Conference games, plus the Cavaliers/Pistons series.
4. No doubleheaders.
5. 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.

 

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The 2015 NBA Finals Broadcast Setup in the Philippines

 

The 2015 NBA Finals begin June 5, with the winner between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers receiving the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the series. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Congratulations Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Stephen Curry and LeBron James have accomplished 3/4 of their championship journey, and now, four wins separate them from the Larry O’Brien trophy. The 2015 NBA Finals is just a week away from the opening tip.

Three networks in the Philippines will have the privilege to cover this year’s NBA Finals. One of them will be ABS-CBN Sports, and upon the completion of the Western Conference Finals, the network officially released their coverage schedule for the Finals.

Once again, free TV viewers will have to endure a tortuous routine of delayed telecasts. The NBA Finals on ABS-CBN Channel 2 will air on a 20-minute delay, except for games on Monday with an 80-minute delay, a virtually similar routine as last year’s finals.

For the fifth straight finals, ABS-CBN Sports will be represented by Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc, part of a global media field consisting of over 200 countries that will head to Oakland, California and Cleveland, Ohio to cover the finals. This will be the 19th consective NBA Finals where the Philippines will send a media delegation.

Same-day replays will be aired on ABS-CBN Sports+Action at 8:00 p.m. News coverage of the Finals will be featured on ABS-CBN News programs such as ‘TV Patrol’, and Sports+Action’s flagship program ‘The Score’.

For those with cable subscription, Basketball TV and NBA Premium will air the NBA Finals LIVE, featuring English commentary from ESPN/ABC in the U.S. In addition, both networks will air pregame and postgame shows via the NBA TV program ‘Gametime’.

The Finals will also have same-day replays on the two networks, and if possible, another encore broadcast may be scheduled during non-game days. NBA Gametime will also air media availability and practice sessions on the day prior to each game.

And for internet and mobile subscribers, NBA League Pass on Globe will air the NBA Finals as well, with on-demand replays also available.

The 2015 NBA Finals will begin on June 5 (Manila time), and will conclude between June 12 and 19.