Here’s some news that should be of interest to all local sports fans: Last week, MediaQuest, the PLDT subsidiary that controls TV5, signed a deal with IBC-13 to air sports programs in the government-controlled network. A new primetime block called AKTV featuring sporting events will soon air on the channel.

In exchange for block time, Media Quest will improve the signal of the channel and upgrade network facilities nationwide.

The move comes as the latest part of MediaQuest’s aggressive expansion strategy, which saw the company pouring in P7 billion into TV5 in 2010 alone. In October, the network launched an all-news FM radio station, while its 24-hour news channel Aksyon TV went on air on UHF television last February.

Continue reading "TV5 signs block time agreement to air sports programming over IBC 13"

Recah Trinidad opens his column today by saying that the reason there was no live broadcast of boxer Drian Francisco’s sensational knockout victory over Duangpetch Kokietgym in Thailand was because there were no broadcasters nationalistic enough to bother with it – as was the case for the recently-concluded Guangzhou Asian Games, which wasn’t broadcast in the country either.

(Really? We’re going to do this again?)

Continue reading "Filipino nationalism and the sweet science: A tale of two Inquirer columns"

My favorite thing about the ongoing 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou is the sheer number of events. There are 42 sports, and quite a few of them are curious, to say the least.

Continue reading "Harry Potter and the next Asian Games gold medal-winning sport for the Philippines"

Here’s the list of sports in which we’ve won a medal in the ongoing 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China: Billiards (gold + silver), Bowling (gold + bronze), Dancesports (2 bronzes), and Wushu (bronze).

You know what all these sports have in common?

Continue reading "The secret of Team Philippines’ success in the Guangzhou Asian Games"

If you were to believe Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Noli Eala’s tweets, the reason here’s no local television coverage of the ongoing 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games is because the government simply doesn’t care enough about Philippine sports. If the government actually bothered, Eala implies, then there would be no reason for everyone not to be able to watch our beloved Smart Gilas and the rest of our country’s athletes competing in the Asiad.

Continue reading "Why we couldn’t watch Smart Gilas (and other Filipino athletes) in the Asian Games"

Smart Gilas skipper, television host, and all-around good guy Chris Tiu joins us in the final installment of Sparring Sessions, a series of interviews with pundits, bloggers, and boxing fans that discuss issues that affect Pacquiao, Filipino boxing, and combat sports in general, veering into topics that mainstream media rarely talk about. Tiu and the rest of the Smart Gilas team are currently in China to compete in the Asian Games, but before he left, he was gracious enough to talk about his former co-host, the Vegas crowd, and playing for Philippine pride.

Continue reading "Sparring Sessions: Smart Gilas team captain Chris Tiu talks about former co-host Manny Pacquiao and fighting for flag and country"