The PBA on Viva TV was a presentation of Philippine Basketball Association games on Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation by Viva Entertainment after the company absorbed Vintage Sports.

History

In late 1999, Vintage Television was bought by media giant Viva Entertainment. Prior to the acquisition, Vintage Television have signed a three-year broadcast deal with the PBA earlier that year worth 770 million pesos. They defeated GMA Network, in its bid to enter into the sports broadcasting scene following ABS-CBN's coverage of the then-existing Metropolitan Basketball Association.

From 2000 to 2001, Viva TV broadcast PBA games on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays with out of town games covered on Saturdays either live, tape-delay or aired days later. In 2002, at Viva's request, the league scheduled its games on Tuesdays and Thursdays with one game from 6–8, and two double-headers on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate the airing of the local version of two popular game shows that was also produced by them; (The Weakest Link and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?). This led to a sudden decrease in ratings and the league shifted back its 2001 schedule at the start of the semifinals of the Commissioner's Cup.

Noli Eala and Ed Picson were the main play-by-play commentators from 2000 to 2002. However, Picson left the network at midseason following a fallout between him and the network. He would return to cover PBA games for the PBA on ABC broadcast in 2004.

At the end of the 2002 season, Viva left a significant amount of debt to the league. They tried to bid for a new contract with the league but was defeated by the NBN-IBC consortium.

Viva-TV aired its last PBA games on Christmas Day 2002 during Game 4 of the 2002 All-Filipino Cup between the Coca-Cola Tigers and the Alaska Aces. Incoming commissioner Noli Eala and Tommy Manotoc were the commentators for its last run.

Commentators

See also

• Philippine Basketball Association
• PBA on ESPN 5

References