Now comes the hard part

The consortium created by National Broadcasting Network (NBN) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) may feel like it has won the lottery with its successful bid to attain the television rights to the PBA for the next three years. But top management of both networks acknowledges that the road ahead will be tough.

To begin with, there were compromises that needed to be made by both parties. First of all, the PBA’s asking price went down substantially from the previous P330-plus million a year is charged Viva-Vintage. The figure per year is closer to two-thirds of that. This gave the bidders more elbow room in terms of procuring funds for their respective bids. On the other hand, bidders needed to submit multi-year commitments, and proposed allocation of equipment.

The NBN-IBC combine is committing a minimum of nine cameras for the coverages, above and beyond the previously generous standard of five to six (with one camera pointed permanently at the game clock). They are also going to employ new types of equipment used in sports coverages abroad. Among those being studied are the Steadicam (a camera mounted on a gyroscope that will not shake even if the handler runs or jumps with it), cranes and others.

Historically, there was every reason to believe the government stations would get the PBA. For nineteen years, the league has been on NBN, in its various incarnations. For the last seven, it has been on IBC. That’s 26 years of stability provided by government networks. Besides, where else would the franchisee get the airtime?

There is no doubt that NBN-IBC will also be able to harness the growing pool of talented production and on-camera personnel in the field. First of all, technical personnel of most companies (networks or independents) covering sports usually have one-year contracts. This makes them free agents at the end of the year. Besides, loyalty alone will not a family feed. Sportscasters are nothing without games to cover, so they will likely go where the action is. Moreover, NBN has just successfully covered the Asian Games under very trying circumstances. They’ve proven their mettle in that aspect, too.

The biggest challenge for anyone covering the PBA will be to dress it up in such a way that it will attract the younger audience, as well. Given that the live audience of the recent UAAP-NCAA All-Star series was eighty percent female, how will the PBA harness that? Although you can’t fault the gift-wrapping for the gift, NBN-IBC will also have to tailor its merchandising campaign with this in mind.

Secondly, the PBA (and consequently, its broadcast partner) will also have to restore the confidence lost when it kept on changing its schedule due to the Asian games and other decisions. Basic marketing principles state that it is five times as hard to get a new customer than it is to keep an old one. How will they handle this two-pronged challenge?

Third, the public is curious about having two networks covering the same event. Will a dual-channel coverage split the audience or galvanize it? And how will advertisers respond? What if the advertisers choose one of the two networks only? Curious.

There are several things that NBN can do that has never been done in the past. Previous NBA coverors have actually conducted rehearsals the day before, holding in their hands copies of the participating teams’ playbooks. This meant that, when the point guard would signal a play, the director would know where to position the camers and anticipate the play.

There are many other innovations possible. But let us leave that to NBN-IBC, sit back, and play armchair quarterback.

And wish them the best.

* * *

Don’t miss this week’s episode of The Basketball Show over RPN, 12 noon to 1 p.m. You can reach us at [email protected].