THE coronavirus pandemic has made it challenging for the National Basketball Association (NBA) to do business in this part of the world but it is nonetheless excited and grateful to be able to continue catering to Filipino fans through new opportunities and partnerships in the country.
These include those with Cignal TV and Smart Communications, which are the league’s new broadcast and digital partners in the Philippines, as well as with Titanomachy International, Inc. (Titan) for merchandising.
Speaking to local media in an online roundtable discussion on Wednesday, NBA Asia Managing Director Scott Levy said he’s grateful for the newly forged partnerships they have established in the country, more so since these came amid difficult conditions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
“This has been a challenging year for us to navigate, but we’re excited about the great opportunities that we have been able to bring to our fans in the Philippines,” said Mr. Levy.
“We’re grateful to Cignal TV and Smart for delivering the NBA over free-to-air, pay TV and over-the-top streaming to the many fans. We’ve also partnered with Titan to relaunch NBAStore.com Philippines and provide our fans access to authentic merchandise. They have been great partners for us,” he added.
Cignal and Smart began their partnership with the NBA in July, in time for the league’s restart at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
It is a multi-year deal that has the organizations as the home of the NBA here, delivering the games and programming through their respective platforms.
Cignal took over from Solar Entertainment, which did not renew its long-time partnership with the NBA last year.
TV5 right now is exclusively showing the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
Titan’s deal with the league, meanwhile, started in August where it features an extensive selection of authentic NBA merchandise for fans nationwide through NBAStore.com.ph.
It is the league’s 25th branded international online store, offering special collections and exclusive product releases highlighted by locally designed apparel.
While they are satisfied with how their new Philippine partners have been delivering from their end, Mr. Levy admitted the prevailing conditions with the pandemic are limiting what these partnerships can do, something they hope to work on with the parties involved when the right opportunity comes.
“We’re looking at the season break to be able to sit down with Cignal and Titan and start planning for next season. As you know, both of those partnerships came at a very hectic time for us and credit to those organizations for the tremendous job they have done in launching under pressure. We are expecting to do great things with them moving forward,” the NBA Asia official said. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
