Tokyo Olympic events anywhere and at any time can be expected by Filipinos and sports enthusiasts as top cable, TV and telecommunications firms banded together to bring the Games on multiple platforms.
Cignal TV, TV5, PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc., all under the MVP group of companies, on Friday officially announced their combined efforts to bring comprehensive access to the Olympic Games, happening from July 23 to Aug. 8.
In a virtual media conference, officials shared that they will be tapping on their groups’ combined TV, over-the-top (OTT), mobile and internet platforms to allow fans and sports enthusiasts both here and overseas to watch and cheer for the athletes as they compete in the different events at the quadrennial sporting meet.
“In our commitment to providing the best sports content to our viewers, we will ensure extensive coverage and daily access to the Games across our free-to-air, pay TV, and OTT platforms, and through our partnership with Smart and PLDT,” said Robert P. Galang, president and CEO of Cignal TV and TV5.
Under the collective effort, fans will have their access to the Olympic Games — from the Opening Ceremonies all the way to when the games conclude — on free to air via TV5 and One Sports.
One Sports+ on Cignal TV will also dedicate a significant amount of their daily hours to broadcast the events, with Cignal also opening up two exclusive channels dedicated to broadcast the games 24/7.
Cignal Play, in addition to live channels TV5, One Sports and One Sports+, will be offering exclusive channels broadcasting live updates to its subscribers, along with exclusive content not available on the TV broadcast.
Cignal TV’s One News will provide round-the-clock news coverage, featuring results, updates, and highlights.
Smart, meanwhile, will offer a complete coverage of the Olympic Games via Gigafest.smart. The website will also feature a livestream of the games to complement the TV broadcast to its customers, along with other Olympic-related content exclusively available via the streaming website.
PLDT, for its part, will also offer 10 channels to select PLDT Triple Play subscribers to round out the group’s comprehensive multiplatform coverage.
Sienna Olaso, Vice-President of Channels and Content of Cignal TV, said they will broadcast events of “national interest” among Filipinos, particularly those of Team Philippines.
To date, 10 Filipino athletes have earned a spot in the Tokyo Games, namely, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Caloy Yulo, boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, rower Cris Nievarez, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa and skateboarder Margielyn Didal.
Sports that are close to the Filipinos’ heart like basketball and volleyball will also be featured.
The Cignal official went on to say that they are drawing from their experience of covering the last Olympics in Rio, Brazil, in 2016 to come up with the best production possible.
Also present during the media conference were PLDT and Smart President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio and Jane J. Basas, SVP and head of consumer wireless business at Smart, as well as businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. – Michael Angelo S. Murillo
