Too much basketball on TV?

BLEACHER TALK - Rico S. Navarro (The Freeman) - January 28, 2018 - 12:00am

If you check out the TV ratings game, you would be amazed at how many people are watching TV prime time’s top programs of ABS-CBN and GMA. This all starts around 6:30 p.m. with the evening news and runs deep into the night with all those TV dramas/soap operas. But for us in the sports family, are we shut out? No way. Sports has a niche market among TV viewers with a lot of air time devoted for sports in the big TV networks like the ABS-CBN group, the TV5 group and the Solar Sports team.

Leading the pack in airtime by miles is basketball. It’s not exactly the ideal set-up that I’d like to see, but market forces have driven basketball to become the most popular sport among the general public, and the sport consequently gets the biggest share of airtime on TV. You can watch NBA games in four (or more) TV channels: Sports+Action (S+A), BTV, Fox and NBA Premium TV. Of the lot, only S+A airs on free TV while the others are part of your cable TV network. The PBA games are aired over the TV5 group of channels: TV5, Aksyon TV/ESPN 5 and Hyper. If you surf between these channels every night, you’ll most likely see basketball being aired.

And if it’s not the NBA or PBA, you might be bumping into other leagues you’re watching for the first time. S+A also airs games of the Asean Basketball League and the recently-launched Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). They also did the latest seasons of the UAAP and NCAA. The TV5/ESPN 5 group airs games of the ongoing US NCAA basketball season, the PBA D-League that started its latest tournament last week and games of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, featuring of course Gilas Pilipinas. More basketball? The cable-based Solar group’s BTV and Solar Sports also airs the G-League (formerly NBA D-League), National Basketball League (NBL) of Australia, Euroleague and the NAASCU season. They covered the recent Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championships (PSSBC) whose games are still being aired through replays. Did I miss anything? Even if I missed out on a league aired on TV, that’s already a lot of basketball! While I’m a basketball fan, I’m also a fan of other sports and would like to see these get close to the airtime that basketball generates.

From my own guesstimate, volleyball is the sport with the most airtime next to basketball. With two semi-pro leagues and the two collegiate seasons spread over the year, they also get a fair share of airtime on TV. S+A airs the NCAA and UAAP volleyball tournaments. This is where the likes of Alyssa Valdez, Michelle Gumabao, Jaja Santiago, Mika Reyes, Abby Marañon, Rachel Ann Daquis, Gretchen Ho and Kim Fajardo rose to prominence. After the successful collegiate tournaments, the semi-pro leagues were quick to step up to follow suit. The Pilipinas Super Liga (PSL) and Premier Volleyball League (PVL) now compete against each other for teams, players, sponsors, popularity and yes, TV airtime. Both leagues have brought in pretty imports to spice up their games, and attendance has increased through the years. Their TV partners? S+A does the PVL while the TV5 group covers the PSL. There are times when their seasons overlap and the intriguing part is that they’ve had soap opera-drama-like squabbles over players, scheduling and even support for the national team. But it’s all part of volleyball’s development as a sport. If sports fans want to watch their male idols on TV, then they get that on from basketball on TV. But if they’re looking for female sports icons, then volleyball is it.

Made for TV? Did you know that Michelle Gumabao is now competing in the Miss Philippines pageant? And did you know that the two “phenoms” Alyssa Valdez and Kiefer Ravena (basketball) are also “phenom pair”? Gretchen Ho is now a regular part of the ABS-CBN News family.

Boxing and MMA are probably next in line in airtime. The Pinoy Pride series of ALA Promotions is aired over S+A, but this is held around three to five times in a year. It’s the most visible boxing series that’s locally-produced for TV. How I wish that the likes of Omega Pro Sports International, SANMAN Promotions and Elorde Boxing events also get airtime in other channels. A few have been aired over PTV and Solar Sports but these have been few and rare. The big world boxing fights in the US are also aired on local TV. UFC, the most popular organization in MMA, is aired over the TV5/ESPN 5 family, even live over Hyper. One Championship, UFC’s main rival in the Asia Pacific region, is aired over S+A. The UFC is the most consistent with its schedule, with two to three events a month.

All other sports events fall under the “others” department in TV airtime. It’s unfortunate that football (the world’s most popular sport) falls under this category, with no regular airing for either the PFL or Azkals games. Only the UAAP football games are given regular slots over S+A. In this department also fall billiards, tennis, golf, triathlon, cycling, athletics, et. al.

We also have the “other” sport channels exclusively for cable TV, depending on your provider: Fox 1, Fox 2, Fox 3, Solar Sports, BTV, NBA Premium TV, Hyper, Eurosport, and Sports Illustrated Asia. Take a pick!

That was the sports on TV in a nutshell. While it isn’t a perfect balance among the different sports, it proves that there is a strong niche market for sports fans. What would you rather watch? TV Patrol, Probinsyano, PBA or NBA? Click!