NBA TV Philippines
NBA TV Philippines is a Philippine pay television sports-oriented network owned by MediaQuest Holdings through its subsidiary Cignal TV. The channel is a joint venture between Cignal and NBA TV and is a live simulcast broadcast of NBA TV, the league's dedicated channel in the United States.[1][2][3][4]
Country | Philippines |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Network | NBA TV |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 480i for the SDTV feed) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Cignal TV (MediaQuest Holdings) |
Sister channels |
|
History | |
Launched | July 31, 2020 |
Former names | NBA Premium TV (Solar Entertainment Corporation) |
Availability | |
Cable | |
Cablelink (Metro Manila) | Channel 53 (SD) Channel 350 (HD) |
Satellite | |
Cignal (Nationwide) | Channel 96 (SD) Channel 292 (HD) |
SatLite (Nationwide) | Channel 52 (SD) |
Streaming media | |
NBA.Smart | Watch Live (for Smart and TNT subscribers) |
Features
NBA TV Philippines is the sister channel of One Sports, One Sports+, and PBA Rush, but the channel is slated to air more games and NBA-content than its sister channel or TV5 (free TV partner).[1][2][3][4]
History
Upon the expiration of the decade-long contract of Solar and NBA, Sky of ABS-CBN Corporation and Cignal TV in their joint statement said that they were jointly negotiating directly with the NBA to make games and programming available to millions of fans in the Philippines.[5][6] However, Sky and ABS-CBN Corporation later dropped out of the bid due to its issue on legislative franchise renewal which led both ABS-CBN and its sister station, an all-sports channel S+A ceased broadcast on free-to-air television on May 5, 2020, as well as the dissolution of its sports division on August 31, 2020 as part of the company's retrenchment after the denial of its franchise renewal,[7] leaving Cignal as a sole bidder.[1][2]
On the start of the 2019-20 NBA season, the NBA was left without broadcast partner in the Philippines, they temporarily streamed their games in the NBA Philippines page via Facebook Watch and Twitter, it was only on November 16 when NBA temporarily went onto an agreement with CNN Philippines to air their games albeit only on weekends, the broadcast of games continued throughout the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.[8]
After months of negotiations on July 27, 2020, Cignal TV announced the multi-year partnership deal with the NBA, on the announcement it was also mentioned that the provider will launch the channel along with the airing of games through its free-to-air channels, TV5 and One Sports.[3] The channel was launched on July 31, 2020, the same day when the NBA's restart of the current season started (July 30 in Orlando time).[2][3][4]
Cignal plans to offer the channel for syndication to other cable operators.[4]
In addition, Smart Communications will provide a livestreaming of NBA TV Philippines on Smart's official website for Smart prepaid and TNT subscribers with GigaVideo subscription, as well as for Smart Signature postpaid subscribers. The livestream, however, is separate from the league's own streaming service NBA League Pass.[4]
See also
- TV5
- One Sports (sports division)
- One Sports (TV channel)
- PBA Rush
- 5 Plus (defunct channel)
- AKTV (defunct programming block)
- Hyper (defunct channel)
- NBA Premium TV (defunct channel)
- Basketball TV (defunct channel)
- NBA League Pass
References
- "NBA games return to Philippine television via Cignal-Smart collab". spin.ph.
- Henson, Joaquin M. (29 July 2020). "NBA is back home". Philstar.com. The Philippine Star. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "Cignal, Smart join forces to deliver live NBA games in PH". Philippine Star. July 27, 2020.
- Villanueva, Eros (27 July 2020). "How to watch NBA games in the Philippines". ESPN5. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "NBA disappears from pay TV; Sky Cable, Cignal negotiating new deal". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
- "Cignal, SKY negotiate joint bid for NBA broadcast". Rappler. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- Matel, Philip (July 16, 2020). "ABS-CBN Sports, longtime home of numerous leagues, signs off". ESPN5.com.
- "CNN Philippines to air NBA weekend games". CNN Philippines. November 13, 2019.