THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) fined Solar Sports P3 million for not airing the first game between Alaska and Powerade live on Wednesday on Studio 23. “Solar’s fault was inexcusable and unacceptable,” said league commissioner Chito Salud on Thursday, who also fined Solar P3 million last conference for failing to air several games of the Philippine Cup live.
“Despite our warnings, they [Solar] did not take the necessary pre-emptive measures for any unforeseen eventuality. So we are holding them responsible,” Salud added.
The Aces-Tigers encounter was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. but the game was only broadcast around 5:40 p.m. after the finals matches of the University Athletic Association (UAAP) volleyball tournament. The UAAP holds an exclusive contract with Studio 23 while Solar Sports is a just a blocktimer in the network.
It was actually the second time that the delay was seen in the coverage of Solar in Studio 23.
On Friday when the Commissioner’s Cup started in Laoag City, there was almost an hour of delay in the telecast of the game between Meralco and Barangay Ginebra.
“Doon pa lang sa Laoag, pumipitik-pitik na and that alone should have made them a candidate for sanction,” said Salud. “But we just charged it to technical difficulties.”
“The premise of our contract is for our teams, players and most especially the fans to not be left out in our television coverage. Our decision to hold them responsible is due to their failure to air our games live and thus denied our TV-viewing public and all those other concerned parties.”
The BusinessMirror could not reach Solar Sports press-relation officer Cecilia Major for comment.
Salud said the delay was unacceptable as Solar Sports was sufficiently forewarned prior the start of the conference for the possible overlaps of the programs in Studio 23.
“They assured us there would be no such problems, that we will go live on schedule. So what happened was totally inexcusable and unacceptable, constituting a breach in our contract,” said Salud.
“I hope it doesn’t happen again, or else we will continue to sanction them.”
Solar Sports is now on its final year of the three-year deal with the PBA and has expressed its desire not join in any competitive bid for television coverage of the league.
Just before the end of the Philippine Cup, Solar Sports was allowed by the PBA board to find a partner to broadcast the games live and it chose Studio 23.
Joel Orellana, Business Mirror
