TV deal finally sealed today

After everything that’s been said, written and done, the multi-million-peso contract between the Philippine Basketball Association and its new broadcast partner for the next three years — the NBN-4/IBC-13 consortium — will be finally signed today.

All those letters of credit, letters of comfort and various documents presented during countless meetings will have to go straight to the filing cabinet the moment the contract, worth a staggering P670 million, is signed by PBA chairman Jun Cabalan and his counterparts.

The contract signing is set this afternoon with NBN-4 to be represented by general manager Joey Isabelo and chair Mia Concio. To sign on behalf of IBC-13 are Atty. Lincoln Tan, its chairman, and Atty. Renato Bello, its president.

The contract-signing finally puts an end to the wide and at times conflicting views and opinions on whether the group of NBN-4 and IBC-13 truly has what it takes to cover the games — from its financial and technical capability to the availability of competent manpower.

"It’s just that there were other things that contributed to the delay. Refining the contract itself was one matter. But in the end, it was that we had to wait for the release of the positive opinion from the OGCC (Office of the Government Corporate Counsel)," Cabalan told The STAR yesterday.

"There’s no more obstacle. I’m glad that we’re at this stage and with just one week before the curtains open, we’ll be able to concentrate 24 hours of each these seven days for this — if needed. We have always presumed that this will push through. Even on my side, my position has always been positive," he added.

Cabalan said all the members of the PBA board have been asked to witness the contract-signing to be held as soon as they meet and tackle important issues regarding the 29th PBA season set to unfold next Sunday. The budget for this year will be on top of the agenda.

Concio also looked forward to the contract-signing, which comes barely a few days after the OGCC gave a positive opinion on the contract entered into by NBN-4 and IBC-13 with the Summit Sports World Corp., the group that will finance the undertaking.

The NBN-4 chair also said the league holding provincial games almost once every week forced them to lease additional equipment from Carlos "Bobong" Velez of Vintage Enterprises, the ex-broadcast partner of Asia’s first play-for-pay league.

"We got a schedule of the games and saw that almost every week, may provincial coverage sa Davao, sa Cebu at sa iba pang malalayo," said Concio. "We have four OB (outside broadcast) vans and an SNG (satellite news gathering) van, which is capable of linking us from anywhere in the country. But we just thought we had to dedicate a new set of equipment for provincial games to save us the troubles of transporting them to and from Manila," she said.

"That’s why we decided to bid our additional requirement to various suppliers. There were three bidders, and since the Vintage group and one other supplier were close in costing, we decided to give it to Vintage because of its experience. But it’s not because he’s (Velez) leasing us some equipment, which by the way would cost us also, means he’s on top."