On Spin, Snow Badua noted that MVP made the announcement that its blocktime agreement with IBC-13 (through AkTV, which is under the arm of Mediaquest Holdings, Inc) will not be renewed when it ends in May.
Snow's source noted that AkTV would then move its coverage to TV5.
When this broke, Interaksyon posted this almost one hour later. Within that, they included their business article (as a link) detailing MVP's announcement of the end of their blocktime agreement, which was posted at 5:45pm, a couple of hours before the Spin piece was posted.
The business post denoted that the block-timing agreement was not profiting as much as what they expected, so they decided not to renew it when it ends in May. It also clearly made it known that any commitments that AkTV is in connection with will be maintained.
Tennis fans in the Philippines will have the chance to watch their favorite players on free tv, as AkTV will be presenting coverage of the 2013 Australian Open.
Starting on January 22, AkTV will be kicking off their coverage of the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific with quarterfinal action in the men's singles, starting at 5:30 PM (via satellite) that day and on January 23. They will then show the men's semifinals on the 24th and 25th at the same time.
The women's final will be shown live on January 26, at 4:00 PM, with the men's final to be shown at the same time on January 27.
The coverage will be accompanied by local commentators and analysis. AkTV Sports Manager Vitto Lazatin notes the thrust that AkTV has in providing a Filipino perspective on international sporting events. Vitto adds that this will broaden the appeal of the sport to the Filipino audience.
Already booking his seats in the quarterfinals is top-seed Novak Djokovic, who virtually needed everything he got to take care of Stanislaus Wawrinka. Awaiting him in the quarters is Tomas Berdych. Also in the quarters is Olympic champion and US Open winner Andy Murray, who will be facing the unseeded Jeremy Chardy.
The women's draw has some familiar names in the quarters, like defending champion Victoria Azarenka, who faces Svetlana Kuznetsova, and former Aussie Open losing finalist Li Na, who faces Agnieszka Radwanska. Also in the bracket is Maria Sharapova, who will be facing countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova. Maria had earlier dispatched Venus Williams, and might have the chance to dispatch sister Serena, if the American can take care of her quarterfinal opponent, Sloane Stephens.
Awaiting the singles' champions is $2.5 million in prize money, the biggest that they have offered.
I find it interesting how AkTV is handling the NCAA this season vis-a-vis with the UAAP. Now we have a set of data available to the public, thanks to Sports 5.
According to their press release, which bases it from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement,the NCAA has garnered a 13% lead over the UAAP with regards to absolute numbers of viewers in the overall national urban scale.
The June 23 to August 18 data illustrate that on their 4 PM to 8 PM time slot, the NCAA averages almost 200,000 viewers. Data also illustrates that in Mega Manila, the NCAA averages 120,000 viewers compared to the UAAP's 77,000 viewers, a 56% lead.
Based on Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, the 88th season of the oldest collegiate league in the country has garnered a 13% lead over UAAP in terms of absolute numbers of viewers in the overall national urban scale. According to data gathered from June 23 to August 18, NCAA was generating an average viewership of close to 200,000 in its primetime slot of 4pm to 8pm. In Mega Manila alone, the NCAA managed to obtain a 56% lead generating an average of 120,000 viewers against the 77,000 average viewers over the other collegiate league.
For specific games, the 1st round meeting between San Beda against Perpetual Help Dalta System was the NCAA's highest viewed game, with 374,296 NUTAM. You probably remember that game because of this.
In comparison, the NCAA's Opening Day game between Letran and San Sebastian registered 297,460 NUTAM.
Sports5's sports manager Vitto Lazatin is happy with the early fruits of the NCAA-AkTV partnership, noting that "The outstanding ratings for this year’s NCAA college basketball tournament prove that more and more sports fans are getting involved in the exciting league action. We only treat this happy development as a challenge to keep delivering the best in college sports through our partnership with the NCAA."
It is important to note that if you checked out PhilStar's Joey Villar's timeline when he received this info, he was fielding tweets from his followers. One of them noted that how come it is mostly the UAAP that is trending on social media.
