Basketball TV

Basketball TV or BTV was a Philippine pay television television sports channel with offices in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City. It was owned by the Solar Entertainment Corporation. It was launched on October 1, 2006, rebranding the Sports Plus channel. On September 25, 2019, it announced on its official Facebook page as well as on its Instagram and Twitter accounts that the channel and NBA Premium TV will cease their operations on October 1, 2019. The final program to air on this channel was a replay of NBA Playoff Playback on 30 September 2019 before signing off at 12:00 m.n. on 1 October 2019.

Basketball TV
LaunchedOctober 1, 2006 (2006-10-01)
ClosedOctober 1, 2019 (2019-10-01)
Owned bySolar Entertainment Corporation
Picture format480i SDTV
SloganMore than a game
CountryPhilippines
LanguageEnglish (main)
Filipino (secondary)
Broadcast areaPhilippines
HeadquartersMandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines
Replaced bySolar Sports
Sister channel(s)ETC
Shop TV
Jack TV
NBA Premium TV
Solar Sports

Upon the channel's termination, Sky Cable and Cignal 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. “We have submitted an offer to the NBA and are awaiting a response.” [1]

History

The channel focused on NBA TV-related programs and also regular NBA games. In its initial broadcasts, it was showing re-runs of the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Aside from the NBA games, it also showed coverage of the Euroleague and the National Basketball League as well as FIBA-related programming and the 2006 Asian Games and 2008 Olympic Games basketball competitions. The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was shown on BTV including the championship game, as well as the 2008 tournament.

BTV was the official carrier of the Philippine Basketball League from April 2007 until the league's demise in 2010 after gaining the rights from Studio 23 (now S+A). The coverage was on a slightly delayed basis at 5:00 pm. In late 2007, the second matchup of a Tuesday gameday was shown on RPN but has since moved to IBC on Saturdays at the onset of the season-ending conference because RPN became the exclusive broadcast carrier of C/S. However the PBL was moved back to C/S 9 in November 2008, showing the first game on Tuesday.

It also covered the Collegiate Champions League, National Capital Region Athletic Association and National Basketball Conference games.

From 2008 to 2011, the Philippine Basketball Association games were also aired on BTV (delayed basis and only one game per day), with the live games aired on RPN and later Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action (later known as S+A)).

A supplementary channel, NBA Premium TV (now defunct), was launched in time for the 2010–11 NBA season, featuring over 400 games with no local commercials. The network was available in both high-definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) formats, and was available as a premium subscription plan with additional fees.

On April 10, 2017, Sky Cable, Destiny Cable & Sky Direct dropped Basketball TV along with NBA Premium TV, Jack TV, Solar Sports & CT (now defunct) allegedly due to Sky Cable's unpaid carriage fees. However, on October 16, 2018, the channel was restored on Sky Cable & Sky Direct after 18 months of carriage disputes.[2] On October 28, 2018, the channel was dropped again on Sky Cable & Sky Direct.[3] On January 1, 2019 the channel was restored again on Sky Cable and Sky Direct.[4]

Final programming

NBA

FIBA
  • 2008 Beijing Olympics
  • 2012 London Olympics
  • Stankovic Cup
  • FIBA Diamond Ball
  • FIBA World Basketball*
  • FIBA World Championship
  • FIBA Asia Championship
  • FIBA Americas Championship
  • EuroBasket

[*] – Also currently airing on Solar Sports

College

[*] – Broadcast rights moved to ABS-CBN Sports through ABS-CBN Sports+Action.

Local leagues

Other foreign leagues

Other

See also

References
  1. "NBA disappears from pay TV; Sky Cable, Cignal negotiating new deal". Inquirer.net.
  2. Terrado, Reuben. "NBA Premium, BTV channels back on SKYCable, per advisory". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  3. "SKY Advisory". Mysky.com.ph. 2018-10-28. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  4. Terrado, Reuben (2019-01-01). "NBA Premium and BTV are back in SKYcable's channel lineup". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
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