SOLAR Sports pointed to “equipment failure,” and nothing else, as the reason some games in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup went off the air or were shown on delayed basis. Tec Major, press-relations officer of Solar Sports, told the BusinessMirror on Tuesday the PBA has nothing to worry about because the broadcast company has already replaced the defective equipment—called the satellite encoder— that caused glitches on their television coverage of the ongoing Philippine Cup.
“It happens to all broadcasting company. You know, technical glitches. But we were able to replace it now,” said Major.
“Hindi naman sinasadya ang nangyari. It’s really an equipment issue and it happens like, for example, sa Meralco, kung bakit tayo nakaka-experience ng brownout. It is something beyond our control,” she added.
PBA commissioner Atty. Chito Salud issued an official league statement the other day expressing disappointment on how Solar Sports has been covering the month-old season where two games went off the air.
Salud said the incidents are “unacceptable and [public disservice]” and that PBA fans have already aired their disappointment over the coverage.
On October 15 the broadcast went off the air starting from the last two minutes of the Alaska-Rain or Shine duel and up to the entire second game between Meralco and Talk ’N Text. And again on October 29 during the third quarter of the match between the Elasto Painters and Barangay Ginebra, the game went off the air for 11 minutes.
On Sunday, during the Alaska-Talk ’N Test tussle, the broadcast also went off the air for a few minutes in the third period.
Besides going off the air, Salud will also seek an explanation from Solar Sports as to why PBA Phoenix Fuel On Tour out-of-town matches on Saturdays are not being shown live on Solar TV (Channel 9).
The first road game this season was on October 9 between Ginebra and Powerade in Batangas City. The game was scheduled at 5 p.m. but was aired at 10 p.m.
And only on Sunday, the coverage of the Alaska-Talk ’N text game went off the air for a few minutes in the third quarter, but Major said it was because of the “switch over” to the new satellite encoder.
Solar Sports is on its final year of a thee-year contract with the PBA reportedly worth around P500 million. They assumed the broadcasting rights from ABC 5.
Joel Orellana, Business Mirror
