Villaflor: Airtime scraps

By Noel S. Villaflor


WHATEVER venue the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) officials pick for the Azkals� World Cup Qualifying home match against Sri Lanka this July 3 will, in the end, have the fans� blessings.

What I�m concerned about, though, is whether the fans will ever get to see live TV coverage of both matches against Sri Lanka. We cannot depend on live streams, and blow-by-blow tweeting is such agony.


But didn�t just this bigwig of a giant television network promise its all-out support for the Azkals following a successful campaign in Myanmar?



�Thank you so much for making us proud of you. ABS-CBN would be with you every step on the way, sa hirap o ginhawa,� gushed chief executive officer Gabby Lopez before the entire Azkals team during a victory party in the company�s headquarters.

It was a TV-friendly moment, the perfect PR stunt, following the network�s failure to secure a deal with stubborn Myanmar officials to broadcast the Azkals� matches in the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers live.

But I cannot help but take Mr. Lopez�s pronouncements with a grain of salt. Being with the Azkals �every step of the way� could mean a lot of things: from daily sports news coverage or milking the celebrated team for all its showbiz worth (I am sure the showbiz reporters are dying to cover each Phil-Angel date every step of the way.)


Every step of the way should also mean broadcasting the matches �live,� just as they did during the Suzuki Cup and Mongolia matches.

Last Jan. 24, the Philippine Football Federation, according to a report, signed �an exclusive one-year deal with ABS-CBN Sports to air all the matches of the Philippine football team, the Azkals, for 2011.� Everything seems fine, except that the report didn�t say the matches need to be aired �live.� There seems to be a catch somewhere.


Then enter the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), hobbling its way into ABS-CBN�s Studio 23 timeslots.

Just days before the Azkals� second leg match in Mongolia, Philippine sports broadcasting took an unexpected turn: the PBA agreed to �to transfer the airing of the second and third conferences to Studio 23� from Solar Sports.

At first, the deal shouldn�t have concerned football fans. But with recent developments, it now appears the PBA factor places the live broadcast of future Azkals matches that share the PBA time slot in jeopardy.

Ironically, it�s not the Azkals management that had recognized possible hitches with the development. It was the PBA itself, which tried to downplay a possible conflict of airing schedules with the NCAA and UAAP, whose games are also aired over Studio 23.

The NCAA and UAAP seasons are expected to open in late July or early August, with games the entire week that could coincide with the Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedules of the PBA Governor�s Cup.

Now where does that leave the Azkals? The away game against Sri Lanka will be held on June 29, a Wednesday, while the return match is on July 3, a Sunday. Initial schedules suggest the kickoff for the Azkals matches will be in conflict with the PBA�s afternoon and primetime games.


Shortly after the announcement of the Studio 23 transfer last February, the PBA hierarchy was quick to announce they were sure of �fixing� possible scheduling problems once the groups� representatives �sit down and meet.� I wonder if a seat in the boardroom would be reserved for an Azkals representative.

If not, the PFF officials might need to take a second look at that �exclusive one-year deal.� Nobody wants to see the Azkals scrounging for airtime scraps, every step of the way.


(nsvillaflor@gmail.com)

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