ESPN 5 opens doors to international audience

The merger of ESPN and Sports 5 would mean Philippine Sports is about to open its doors to the internal audience. Just recently, the worldwide leader in sports and TV5 agreed to create ESPN 5, which will take over as the new brand name of the local channel’s sports entity.

With ESPN 5, the network will create a platform that would open up our major sports such as the PBA, games of Gilas Pilipinas, the PBA D-League, PSL, the NFL, US NCAA basketball, the Azkals matches, and the highly popularized Sports Center among others. For a diehard sports fan, this is a good deal for you.

The Philippines are the best fans and they’ve proven that when Gilas Pilipinas qualified for the World Cup, basketball’s version of the World Championship, for the first time in 40 years. This means the games will have better chances of catering to a larger audience, especially for Pinoys who are scattered in different parts of the globe.

ESPN in the United States just signed a five-year deal with FIBA (International Basketball Federation) for the US rights. The Philippines, in fact, was the first one to secure a deal with the governing body in basketball as far as showing major games of their sanctioned events is concerned and this allowed the US to follow the suit.

As coveror of the PBA, the creation of the ESPN 5 will also give the network leverage in bolstering their partnership. The local network has the rights for the airing of the premier professional league in Asia until the next two years, but the latest development would somehow strengthened its foothold as far as coverage rights is concerned.

Vincent “Chot” Reyes, head coach of Gilas Pilipinas, and also the president of TV5, believes this will increase the network’s proposition in all the leagues it handles.

Pinoys based overseas would also get opport nity of getting a beam of the games not just thru livestream, but also in their local channels with this latest partnership.

As early as Game 1 of the PBA best-of-seven finals series between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco, ESPN 5 was already presented for branding purposes.

Games of the NFL can also be shown live in the Philippines and ESPN 5 is ready to give us updates, including in the NBA, where Filipinos usually look for fresh news.

Although the games of the NBA cannot be shown as the rights is exclusively under ABSCBN and BTV, ESPN’s international reporters are ready to give updates happening inside the locker room as confirmed by Reyes.

Interviews, post games, halftime, and even trade rumors can be shown on ESPN 5 as Adrian Wojnarowski, considered the authority in every rumor, trade, movement, is about to give fans updates.

The future looks bright for the coverage of major sports in the country and with the new partnership with ESPN, there’s nowhere to go but up.