''The PBA on Viva TV'' was a presentation of

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

games on

Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) is a Philippines, Philippine State broadcasting, state broadcaster owned by the Government Communications Group under the Presidential Communications Group (Philippines)#Presidential Communicat ...

Viva Entertainment Viva Communications Inc., formerly known as Viva Entertainment Inc. and simply Viva, is a Philippine media and entertainment company headquartered in Pasig City. It was founded on November 11, 1981, by Vic del Rosario and his sister Tess Cruz. ...

after the company absorbed Vintage Sports.

History

In late 1999,

Vintage Television 180px, Logo used from 1982 to 1996 Vintage Television (VTV) (officially known as Vintage Enterprises, Inc. and mostly known as Vintage Sports) was a Philippine media company and was best known as the TV coverage partner of Philippine Basketball A ...

was bought by media giant

. Prior to the acquisition, Vintage Television have signed a three-year broadcast deal with the PBA earlier that year worth 770 million

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

. They defeated

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

, in its bid to enter into the sports broadcasting scene following

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

's coverage of the then-existing

Metropolitan Basketball Association The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), or Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran from March 7, 1998, to July 26, 2002. History The MBA played its first game on March 7, 1998, at the Don Narciso Ramos ...

. From 2000 to 2001, Viva TV broadcast PBA games on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays with out of town games covered on Saturdays either

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

, tape-delay or aired days later. In 2002, at Viva's request, the league scheduled its games on Tuesdays and Thursdays with one game from 6–8, and two double-headers on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate the airing of the local version of two popular game shows that was also produced by them; (''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'' and ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

''). This led to a sudden decrease in ratings and the league shifted back its 2001 schedule at the start of the semifinals of the Commissioner's Cup.

Noli Eala Jose Emmanuel "Noli" M. Eala is a Filipino sports executive and disbarred lawyer who served as the 11th chairperson of the Philippine Sports Commission from August 30 to December 28, 2022. He previously served as the sixth commissioner of the P ...

and Ed Picson were the main play-by-play commentators from 2000 to 2002. However, Picson left the network at midseason following a fallout between him and the network. He would return to cover PBA games for the

PBA on ABC ''The PBA on ABC'' (later renamed as ''The PBA on TV5'') was a branding for presentation of Philippine Basketball Association games by the Associated Broadcasting Company. ''The PBA on ABC'' premiered on February 22, 2004, replacing the previo ...

broadcast in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. At the end of the 2002 season, Viva left a significant amount of debt to the league. They tried to bid for a new contract with the league but was defeated by the NBN-IBC consortium. Viva-TV aired its last PBA games on Christmas Day 2002 during Game 4 of the 2002 All-Filipino Cup between the

Coca-Cola Tigers Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

and the Alaska Aces. Incoming commissioner

and

Tommy Manotoc Tomás "Tommy" La'O Manotoc Sr. is a Filipino people, Filipino golfer and former basketball coach. As a basketball coach of several Philippine Basketball Association, PBA teams, Manotoc won six PBA titles, including a Grand Slam (PBA), grand ...

were the commentators for its last run.

Commentators

Play-by-play

*Mon Liboro *Chino Trinidad *Ed Picson *Benjie Santiago *Anthony Suntay *Boom Gonzalez

Analyst

Quinito Henson Joaquin M. Henson (born October 14, 1950), also known as Quinito Henson, is a Filipino sports analyst and television color commentator. His newspaper column, ''Sporting Chance'', has appeared in the ''Philippine Star'' since the 1980s. Self-dubb ...

*Paolo Trillo *TJ Manotoc *

* Ron Jacobs *

Yeng Guiao Joseller "Yeng" Medina Guiao (born March 19, 1959) is a Filipino professional basketball head coach, politician, commentator and sports commissioner. He is currently the head coach of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketba ...

Leo Isaac Leandro "Leo" Isaac (born February 2, 1961) is a Filipino former basketball player, commentator and former head coach of the Blackwater Elite in the Philippine Basketball Association. College career He played for the Mapua Cardinals in the NC ...

Joel Banal Joel Banal (born February 6, 1958) is a retired Filipino professional basketball player, and former head coach in the Philippine Basketball Association. He is the former commissioner of the now-defunct Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League (P ...

Courtside reporters & Halftime Hosts

*Dong Alejar *Paolo Trillo * Chiqui Roa-Puno *

Jannelle So Jannelle So-Perkins (born September 9, 1977) is a Filipino journalist and broadcaster known for her work as the creator, host and producer of "Kababayan Today" (formerly "Kababayan L.A.), a daily show magazine/talk show for and about Filipinos ...

*Benjie Santiago *Charissa Litton *Jackie Simpao *

Ronnie Nathanielsz Ronald Fredrick William Nathanielsz (November 3, 1935 – November 11, 2016), was a Sri Lankan-born Filipino sports journalist, commentator and analyst. Early life Nathanielsz was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1935. He was the eldest son of ...

Pia Arcangel Maria Pia Concepcion Nieva Arcangel-Halili (; born December 8, 1978), is a Filipino people, Filipino television News presenter, newscaster and journalist in the Philippines. Career Arcangel started as a courtside reporter for the University Athle ...

References