The National Basketball Association returns to channel nine.
TV5 Network President and CEO Guido R. Zaballero recently announced that NBA fans will be able to watch the action live on free-to-air television anew.
This, as the upcoming finals of the Eastern and Western Conference and the much-anticipated NBA Finals for the 2023-24 season will be seen live on RPTV starting next week.
“Bringing the NBA games to more Filipino homes is in line with our commitment to make RPTV the go-to channel for the best sports content to be enjoyed by viewers all across the country,” Zaballero said in his statement.
Aside from RPTV, the games will also be aired live on NBA TV Philippines. Catch-up broadcasts, meanwhile, will be available on the One Sports channel.
RPTV, which was launched in February, is seen via the free-to-air RPN channel 9 in Metro Manila.
The NBA is no stranger to the channel. At least in recent history, the basketball league was broadcast on the channel in the late 2000s and early 2010s during Solar TV on RPN era.
After the end of NBA broadcasts on ABS-CBN, the league briefly moved back to said frequency during its time as CNN Philippines in 2019.
In 2020, Cignal TV picked up the local coverage rights and created the NBA TV Philippines channel on its pay TV platform.
On the free TV side, One Sports used to air games every Monday and Friday, while TV5 broadcast matches every Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Since this season, however, there has been a notable reduction in the amount of live games aired on free TV, with One Sports left as the sole terrestrial broadcaster.
This is a result of TV5’s pivot after the NBA Finals in 2023 to a purely general entertainment and news station.
After the closure of CNN Philippines in January, TV5’s sporting properties like the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and Premier Volleyball League (PVL) have found their new home on RPTV, which replaced the news channel.
The addition of NBA to RPTV’s repertoire boosts both the network’s sports programming and the league’s free-to-air carriage in the country.
NBA games will be seen live on RPTV starting next week.
Trendrod 