Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Switching to RPN will not affect viewership: PBA commish
MANILA - DESPITE playing with a new network partner, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) expressed confidence it can still maintain the popularity of the league.
PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios said that having a new TV partner, RPN 9 would not remove the support of the basketball-loving Filipinos.
“Definitely, we are very upbeat about the coming season. We are the only sports entertainment in the country where about 11,000 fans are paying their way in. We have done it in the past seasons, so we are looking forward to doing it again,” said Barrios in the PSA Forum yesterday at the Shakey’s UN Avenue, where he was joined by Alaska’s new chairman Joaqui Trillo.
Barrios is confident that PBA can surpass the success reaped last season, where they enjoyed a major increase in both gate receipts and attendance capped by a record-crowd of 22,902, who witnessed Game 7 of the Fiesta Cup Finals between Barangay Ginebra and Air21.
“We are very happy with how turned out in the last conference. We did start slow but when the playoffs came, we began to pick up. So I think credit goes not just to two or three teams, but to all the 10 teams.”
Meanwhile, Trillo said a new three-year deal the league signed with RPN 9 could give the PBA a fresh look.
“We’re very excited with the deal. We’ll be airing live games over RPN-9 and then, we’ll be showing replays over Basketball TV (BTV),” said Trillo.
The 34th season starts on Oct. 4 with a lone game at the Araneta Coliseum and then plays with the usual twinbill the following day at the Astrodome. (FCC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 3, 2008 issue)
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