Like any other Pinoy guy out there, I watch only three channels on cable — Basketball TV, Basketball TV, and (you guessed it) Basketball TV! Not many people know this, but by the time January 2008 comes along, ALL of Solar Entertainment’s channels will no longer be on Sky Cable. Let me put it this way – if you’re a basketball fan, your life is officially over.

Isn’t that why we all transferred to Sky Cable in the first place?


Due to my work schedule, and the absence of a TV in the office, I was only able to see a few UAAP games live this past July. There were no worries, as I knew the replay was going to be shown on Channel 61. Balls Channel, I thought (another stupid name for a channel by the way), was probably just a free channel they had set up to show replays on. Before they used to show replays on Studio 23, but I guess they ran out of airtime to spare. Okay, that’s fine, if it means all games were going to have replays.

Had I known it was the first phase for the eventual phase out of BTV, I would have done something about it. Since I was still connected to Summit in May, and knew someone from Solar myself, I could have dug deeper so the people would know.

It doesn’t even stop there.

What’s that other channel, Jack TV? Oh, it doesn’t matter too much really. It just shows the WWE. You know, the show where having your face up another guy’s arse is considered entertainment. To all the marketing and agency people out there, if you still don’t have a clue “what grade school kids talk about in the company of other grade school kids”, then this is it. Yes, even more than videogames and their dad’s hidden porn collection.

And oh, my poor sister. All she ever watches is ETC. America’s Top Model. Even with the Pinoy related jokes, I know I’m going to miss Jay Leno. Okay, okay, I love watching Blind Date and 5th Wheel too. These “magazine” shows will sorely be missed. You don’t have to watch them everyday, but just having the TV on while these shows are up is enough to give you a reasonable dose of entertainment.

Based on some reliable sources, the brunt of this falling-out between Skycable and Solar Entertainment, started when ABS-CBN started getting into the whole Manny Pacquiao thing. In other words, people can point at the creation of ABS-CBN Sports. Who can blame them right? This is a business after all. Manny Pacquiao is one of the most bankable pugilists on local and foreign soil. No other guy can capture market A-D with only the power of his million dollar fists. As we all know, SkyCable is owned by the Lopezes. It’s not the competition between the channels that killed the relationship — it was the reputation battle.

It’s common knowledge within the print and media industry that comparing the advertising rates of ABS-CBN and Solar Sports is likening the punching power of Mayweather to Hatton’s – the former’s is just astronomical. What happens when a cable channel beats a local channel for the broadcasting rights? The local channel starts to look bad because advertisers start asking them, “How come they are able to offer the fight spots at a lesser price?”. Imagine this fluctuation going on for what, 4-5 fights, and you know that advertisers will get pissed.

What they did now is get the viewers pissed, and that’s what will hurt even more in the long run. The fools didn’t even announce it on their site. People will find out, as some people on the Internet have also blogged about it here and here.

I guess you can judge from my tone that yes, now is the time to dial 894-5714. Destiny Cable, here we come.

The funny thing about all of this? Even Manny Pacquiao is now a Kapuso. I think he watches BTV too.

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