LOCAL television stations will soon air the WNBA games extensively, including on free TV, assuring wide exposure in the Philippines after sealing a partnership with Tap Digital Media Ventures Corporation (TapDMV).
Under the agreement, WNBA games will be aired in TapDMV’s various channels including free-to-air Blast Sports. The games will also air on pay television through Tap Sports, Premier Sports 1, Premier Sports 2, and Premier Football, and streaming via BlastTV.
TapDMV recently had a viewing party at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Pasig City last Sunday when it aired the WNBA All-Star Game on its platforms.
The WNBA has become one of the must-watch sporting events because of the emergence of rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, considered by many as generational stars. And then there are the usual crowd favorites Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, and Sabrina Ionescu.
WNBA popularity soars
“It’s at an all-time popularity,” said TapDMV chief operating officer Peter Chan Liong. “I think the most important is that we noticed how it started to where it is now. It is night and day. The product has changed so much and the players have gotten so much better.”
“You’ve got Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, which makes it look like it’s the old rivalry of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. And you’ve got players like Brittany Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Alysha Gray. They’re so much more different than it was before,” said Chan Liong.
For this season, Chan Liong said TapDMV will show the WNBA after the Olympic break until the finals.
NBA Asia Director for Content Partnerships and Direct-to-Consumer Donna Reyes is excited with the extended reach of the WNBA through TapDMV.
“We are already seeing it here with the Gilas team. Our UAAP teams have been playing at such a high level. The growth of women’s basketball in the Philippines is really astounding. It’s really matching what we are seeing in the US. We are really excited and we are looking forward to see more of that,” Reyes said.
Gilas Women player Jack Animam, who attended the viewing party, noted the importance of the WNBA being available to the Filipino audience to the growth of women’s basketball in the local scene.
“Dati, we are just dreaming na may something for us sa women’s basketball. But slowly, and talagang paangat ng paangat ang women’s basketball dito sa Pilipinas,” said Animam, who was coming off a Mythical Five feat in the William Jones Cup.
“Look at the WNBA, just now na ngayon nila nakukuha ‘yung attention that they deserve. Start small, and slowly but surely, we can make it big. Ang hirap kasi if we start na eto (malaki) agad ‘yung gusto natin. It won’t happen like that. It should really be unti-unti, and we have progress every year or every day. Hindi malabong ma-achieve natin ‘yun especially with the community that we have here,” said Animam.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
