PBA may handle own TV broadcast

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Basketball Association is now looking at the prospect of doing the TV coverage itself of its games.

PBA commissioner Chito Salud said they will take up the matter during the PBA board meeting next week.

“If there’s no formal offer from any network, we’ll take the option of producing the games ourselves,” said Salud.

“We can’t leave ourselves at the mercy of the networks. If there’s no bidders, we’ll do the coverage,” Salud added.

The league commissioner told The STAR there’s a block in the board that’s been pushing for this for some time now.

Solar Sports is the PBA’s current exclusive TV coveror. Their contract expires at the end of the season, and Solar has informed the PBA that it’s not seeking contract renewal.

“The PBA itself being the producer and coveror of its games may be a better proposition. We think it’s doable,” said PBA media bureau chief Willy Marcial.

“In such a case, the PBA has full control of in-venue and TV advertisings. In the present set-up, we’re only in control of the in-venue ads,” said Marcial.

TV is another huge source of income for the league aside from gate receipts.

The PBA would have earned around P.5 billion by the end of its 2008-2011 contract with Solar Sports.