ANOTHER network war is shaping up as both TV5 and rival ABS-CBN are set to broadcast games from Gilas Pilipinas' participation in the Fiba World Cup in Spain.
Confusion reigned on social media sites over the weekend when both TV5 and ABS-CBN announced that they will be airing the games of the August 30 to September 14 showpiece from Spain on free television.
On the other hand, Solar Entertainment's Basketball TV and Solar Sports will air the games on cable television.
When Spin.ph dug deeper, we were told that Solar, which owns the local rights to all Fiba-run tournaments, has initially granted ABS-CBN the rights to broadcast the games from the World Cup, both on Channel 2 and UHF channel ABC-CBN Sports + Action.
However, Solar, sources said, has since struck another deal with Sports5, the sports arm of TV5 which is incidentally headed by Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes.
Under the deal, Sports5 will now have the rights to broadcast live all the games of Gilas, either on TV5 or its sister channel on the UHF band AksyonTV 41, for the duration of the Spain showpiece.
On the other hand, ABS-CBN will be able to air live all the other matches of the World Cup, as well as games of Gilas on a delayed basis, the source added.
Reyes has also announced on his Twitter account that TV5 will also broadcast Gilas' tune-up games in the run-up to the World Cup, against either Spain or France.
The multi-titled coach added that Gilas Pilipinas’ matches in the upcoming Fiba Asia Cup set July 11-19 in Wuhan, China will also be shown live by Sports5.
The Philippines is bracketed in Group B in the Fiba-Asia Cup with old rival Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Uzbekistan and Jordan, which is now coached by former Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.
Gilas will also be ranged against Chinese Taipei, the only other country that handed a loss to the hosts during last year’s Fiba-Asia Championship aside from eventual champion Iran.
According to TV5, it also holds the broadcast rights to the Fiba 3x3 event happening at the SM Megamall from July 19-20 and the Fiba-Asia Under-17 championships set from August 8-16 in Dubai.
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