PBA STUDYING OPTIONS SHOULD ABC 5 FAIL TO COMPLY WITH ITS CONTRACT

Columns

Canelo Demands $100 Million for Crawford Rematch

By Dong Secuya

When fight figures cross into nine-digit guarantees, the conversation usually turns cynica…

The PBA is studying possible options should ABC 5 fail to comply with its contractual obligations regarding the "live" telecast of the PBA games.

The board of governors headed by chairman Robert Non will meet on Thursday to study all possibilities in the wake

of ABC 5's proposal to telecast the main game "live" at 8:00 p.m. and the first game on a delayed basis while airing both games "live" on the VHF Channel Action 41 which has yet to make a dent in terms of viewership due primarily to its limited coverage.

Another sticky point is the proposal by ABC 5 to start the games on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

PBA board members have told the Manila Standard that the proposals are unacceptable even as it was learned that

the PBA had proposed to newly appointed ABC 5 COO Noel Lorenzana and head of sports Chot Reyes to move their news to an earlier time-slot to enable back-to-back coverage of the games but the executives refused.

Former PBA chairman Rene Pardo who handled the negotiations when the coverage rights were given to ABC 5 told us "their proposal is unacceptable. We can't compromise the gains we have made. They (ABC 5) don't want to make adjustments but they want us to take a hit."

Another apparently peeved board member told us "they don't want to move their news but they want us to move our games."

Pardo recalled that the PBA had turned down the offer of the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN to air the games on Studio 23 but now ABC 5 is suggesting "live" coverage on a VHF channel which is far from being established and doesn't have a

comparable reach.

The former chairman suggested that since IBC 13 had offered to extend the airtime contract with ABC 5 until the end of the

year, ABC 5 should "buy airtime only for the PBA games" which were successfully telecast on the government sequestered

network.

He also indicated that he had asked the PBA board and the Commissioner's Office to study the options open to the pro league in case ABC 5 fails to comply with its contractual obligations.