TV5 president Chot Reyes officially announced the return of sports media giant ESPN to the Philippines on Thursday in a partnership between the television station and the so-called “Worldwide Leader in Sports” called ESPN-5.
“Our belief has always been that the Filipino audience deserves the world’s best in sports programming and this drives us to be better in what we do,” Reyes said in a presentation at the Digicon 2017 event at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
“By competing in sports, it gives us the chance against the giants in our business. There is no way we can compete with them in other fields. But in sports, we have a chance to be called #1,” he added.
“That’s why we are proud and excited to announce TV5 is bringing ESPN back to the Philippines.”
Expected to be part of the ESPN-5 block on the TV5 channel will be live games from leagues like the PBA and the NFL, as well as a locally-produced edition of the ESPN flagship program Sports Center.
It will also have an ESPN-5 website, social media accounts and a mobile app.
Also in attendance at the event was ESPN Head of Southeast Asia Joyee Biswas, who spoke about the partnership with TV5.
“We collaborate with people for whom sports content is strategic to their business… TV5’s love and strength for sports is unparalleled in the Philippines and there is no one better than them to collaborate with.”
“We believe that through this alliance, we can bring an engagement to fans through multiple screens which they’ve never experienced before. Form television, to web, to mobile and social. The new brand of ESPN-5 will give fans a 360-degree experience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
ESPN has several partnerships internationally like with Tencent in China, Kwese in Africa and British Telecommunications in the UK.
(InterAksyon is the news website of TV5.)
