By Abby Toralba
CIGNAL TV is making sure all Filipinos get to watch all games of Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA World Cup starting this Friday.
With the approval of FIBA, Cignal TV is teaming up with government station PTV4 to air the games of the Philippine five against some of the finest teams in the world.
“We were allowed by our partners from FIBA to air it para mas marami ang makapanood,” Cignal TV executive Sienna Olaso said in yesterday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
“We extended our offer to PTV 4 to actually carry it either live or delayed. We just want to make sure that every Filipino will have a chance to watch it,” she said.
Gilas matches and all other games during the tourney, including those being held in Okinawa, Japan and Jakarta, Indonesia will be shown via free channels TV5 and One Sports, cable channels One Sports+ and PBA Rush, and satellite pay-per-view. Streaming options include Pilipinas Live, Cignal Play, and Smart Livestream.
Gilas opens its campaign in Group A against Karl-Anthony Towns and Dominican Republic this Friday at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Up next for the team is Angola on Sunday (Aug. 27) and world No. 10 Italy on Tuesday (Aug. 29).
Gilas is hoping to win at least two games to advance to the second round. Otherwise, it will be relegated to the classification stage.
“A minimum of five (games) all the way to eight games. Hopefully, we can enter the next phase so we can have more games,” Olaso said in the public sports program backed by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission, Milo, Philippine Olympic Committee, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
The tournament, being held in the country for only the second time since 1978, will be shown in 190 countries and territories around the world.
In the 2019 World Cup in China, around three billion people were tuned in to the quadrennial showcase, including 55 million people in China during one of the Chinese national team’s games.
