Smart Communications will be giving fans of the Philippine national men’s basketball team a different, immersive look at their favorite squad when it live-streams its coverage of the 2017 SEABA Championship in 360-degrees.
The Gilas Pilipinas campaign began on Friday, May 12, with a 107-point victory over Myanmar right here in Manila before taking on on rising ASEAN basketball rivals Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia in the regional campaign it has traditionally dominated.
Their supporters have been getting an innovative 360-degree coverage of the basketball games.
Smart teamed up with Team V, a technology company in Korea that specializes in Virtual Reality (VR) development and production, to provide the coverage. With cutting-edge technologies and a professional team, Team V has experience in delivering live VR broadcasts for sports, concerts, dramas and other video content.
The Gilas campaign can be viewed at Smart360, the company’s website where users can view specific live TV channels; watch movies and digital videos on-demand; and play games online. The live-stream can be found at this link: http://360.smart.com.ph
This, according to the Smart promotional material, is a preview of what the live-stream could look like:
To best enjoy live-stream viewing through Smart360, audiences can load up with GigaSurf 50 by keying in GIGA50 and sending it to 9999. GigaSurf 50 comes with 1GB of data plus 300MB for YouTube, iflix and more, valid for three (3) days. It also comes with unlimited texts to all networks.
By logging into Smart360, Smart subscribers will be right in the middle of basketball action; never missing out on any crossover move by Terrence Romeo or an eye-in-the-sky connection from Jayson Castro to Japeth Aguilar because watching the game via Smart360 provides immersive 360-degree viewing access for a richer experience even when watching the games on-the-go.
The winner of the SEABA 2017 will represent the sub zone at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 and will also represent the sub zone in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers.
The Philippines has won every SEABA championship it has participated in since 1998, winning seven of the nine editions played since then. The two tournaments the country failed to win – in 2005 and 2013 – were played without the Filipinos.
Gilas Pilipinas, coached by Chot Reyes, will boast of an impressive lineup led by naturalized player Andray Blatche, two-time FIBA Asia Best Point Guard Castro and three-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo.
(Smart Communications is chaired by Manny V. Pangilinan, who is also chairman of TV5. InterAksyon is an online news unit of TV5.)