Solar Sports Dangles P498M 3-year TV Deal

By Nelson Beltran
The Philippine Star, 27 May 2008

The Philippine Basketball Association and Solar Sports is ready to strike a deal for the league’s exclusive broadcast rights any time with only a few minor kinks to be ironed out in their negotiation.

League commissioner Sonny Barrios, who has had two meetings with the Solar Sports people, will inform the PBA board of the details of the discussions in a meeting today at the PBA office in Libis, Quezon City.

A STAR source said Solar Sports is offering a package of P498 million in three years – P160 million in the 2008-09 season, P168 next year and P170 million in the final year.

Another source said Makisig Channel is looking to revive its offer following the withdrawal of ABS-CBN.

The Hermie Esguerra-owned outfit is apparently ready to bid P550 million also for three years.

Barrios said Solar Sports has addressed most of the board’s concerns but can’t speculate on what will be the decision of the board.

“I’m merely the facilitator here not the decision-maker. I’ll just basically report to the board what we’ve gone through. If this concern is settled, it’s welcome news for me since we’ll finally be guided on what to do next,” said Barrios.

“Whoever the new coveror may be, we’ll have to sit down for maybe months for the preparation operationally, unlike if it’s still ABC-5 which has long been doing the job,” Barrios added.