PBA telecast transfer goes thru scrutiny

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Basketball Association said it is amenable to the transfer of the telecast of its games from RPN-9 to Studio 23 but has opted to look at all legal implications of the matter first before making the decision.

Commissioner Chito Salud said they would announce the PBA decision tomorrow.

“The PBA is under contract with Solar Sports. Before we make announcement, the board wants our legal team to make sure we are legally covered with respect to our contract,” said Salud.

“We will make sure we’re not subject to a suit by other contracting properties in case we push through with the decision,” Salud added. “We’ll make sure all legal repercussions are ironed out.”

“We will look at the legal repercussions. We’ll look at possible loopholes,” said Atty. Melvin Mendoza, the PBA legal counsel who’ll help the commissioner study the matter.

Awaiting PBA board approval is Solar Sports’ plan to bring over to Studio 23 the telecast of the PBA games in the season’s last two conferences.

Under the existing contract, Solar Sports is bound to air the PBA games on RPN-9 up to the end of the current PBA season.

Solar Sports’ request for the coverage transfer was prompted by RPN-9’s decision to reformat its programming. The network is focusing on news and current affairs.

“With due respect to Solar Sports, they informed us of their plan as early as last year,” said Salud.

“They explicitly pronounced that they would continually to honor their financial obligations under the contract. To date, they maintain that position,” Salud added.

Solar Sports, however, stressed it can no longer keep the airing of the PBA games on RPN-9.

“They say we’ll continue to honor our financial obligation. In case you (the PBA) don’t approve our request, we will honor our obligations, pay the fine (for the transfer) and ready to face legal suit,” said Salud.

The difference between RPN-9 and Studio 23 is that the former is a VHF channel while the latter is UHF.

The PBA team owners, in a recent meeting, ordered the PBA board to stick with VHF channel as PBA coveror.