Going global

Millions of Filipinos travel overseas to seek their fortune. Often, many find the economic need to transplant outweighs the homesickness that they feel, and it is apainful compromise. However, they are irreversibly Pinoy, and still look for the food, language and entertainment they are accustomed to.

Unfortunately, overseas Filipino workers and immigrants have never had a steady diet of Filipino sports on television once they’ve uprooted themselves. The one staple they demand, particularly in the Middle East (home to at least two million Filipino workers) is basketball. Last year, thanks to the wild hype surrounding the UAAP finals between De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila, thousands of Filipinos called to demand live broadcasts of the championship games, never mind that they would have to watch early in the morning. They wanted their basketball.

Now, they have it.

Yesterday, ABS-CBN launched PinoyCentralTV, the newest cable offering to the vast yet growing Filipino market abroad. And its primetime programming is full of sports.

"Through a lot of informal surveys, we’ve discovered that Filipinos overseas naturally look for sports," reveals Jeff Remigio, director for International Communications of ABS-CBN Global. "And basketball is undeniably the most popular sport we have. So now, we have it all: the PBA, the UAAP, the NCAA and The Basketball Show."

The Basketball Show, aired over IBC-13 every Saturday at 4 p.m., is part of the bulk of primetime sports programming that fills the hours after TV Patrol at 6 p.m. It comes packaged with PBA Games and PBA Classics, where older fans can show their children the players and games they remember.

"We chose The Basketball Show because it’s the only show that features all the basketball leagues," Remigio added.

There is also a wide range of different sports in the mix. Mike Potenciano’s "Speed" is also aired in prime time overseas, along with the revival of the classic "Fistorama" program, produced by Boy Cantada’s Joe Cantada Sports. PinoyCentralTV is also acquiring other sports programs to whet the appetite of the Pinoy sports fan overseas. There are also travel and tourism programs from Lakbay TV, Susan Calo Medina and Eric Quizon’s Kaizz Ventures, featuring Eric and brother Epi themselves.

Initially, PinoyCentral was offered for two months as a free preview to new subscribers. This April, they will have to start paying a subscription fee of over $20 a month to have 24 hours of all-Filipino programming. This will be a big boon to Filipinos dying for the sports they have been separated from.

Yesterday’s launch, on the program "Kumusta, Kabayan" was broadcast to five continents. Technologically, the only addition the network had to make was acquire new transponder space to the US and the Middle East. But, eventually, like its older brother The Filipino Channel, PinoyCentralTV will be seen everywhere there are large Filipino communities.

Among the sports luminaries who attended the launch were PBA commissioner Noli Eala, Fistorama producer Boy Cantada, champion car racer Mike Potenciano, and yours truly for The Basketball Show. Some of our pro boxers even gave a brief exhibition, with comedian and Pinoy CentralTV video jock Gabe Mercado making like a referee. Host Cito Beltran even challenged former PBA MVP and Pasig councilor Atoy Co to a friendly game of one-on-one, and didn’t do too badly considering Atoy was in a barong and leather shoes. His co-host Cheryl Cosim wisely stayed away from the action.

With this new development as a trial balloon, ABS-CBN will now be able to gauge the feasibility of its plan to ultimately have its own 24-hour sports channel. And it may not be that far behind.

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This week’s episode of The Basketball Show will feature an exclusive interview with injured DLSU guard BJ Manalo, a SlamBook segment on UP’s Toti Almeda, Purefoods’ Billy Mamaril on rebounding, and the difficulties that brothers Alvin and Allen Patrimonio face in constantly being compared to each other. The program is on IBC-13 at 4 p.m. every Saturday.