IT took a long time coming for the fight between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather to finally materialize and Solar Entertainment Corp.—the official Philippine broadcaster of the historic fight—saw that the event could unite the nation.
In fitting fashion, Solar, through its CEO Wilson Tieng, brokered an agreement that brought together the country’s top media and entertainment entities under one roof to simultaneously broadcast the long-awaited fight set on May 3 (Philippines time).
Solar has partnered with media giants ABS-CBN, GMA 7, TV5 and PLDT, plus SM Lifestyle Entertainment, to give the Filipino boxing fan access to the fight billed as the “Battle For Greatness.”
Under the agreement, ABS-CBN will air the fight through Channel 2 and on pay-per-view through SkyCable. GMA, on the other hand, will broadcast the fight through its VHF channel and gain the exclusive right for the radio coverage on its dzBB AM radio station.
TV5 and PLDT, both under the Manuel V. Pangilinan Group, will have a huge chunk of the pie with broadcasts on Channel 5, online portal Sports5.ph, pay-per-view via its Cignal Digital TV brand and mobile-platform viewing.
SM Lifestyle Entertainment, meanwhile, will be responsible for public viewing at SM and WalterMart cinemas and screenings in major venues such as the Mall of Asia Arena and Smart Araneta Coliseum on fight day.
At least 80 million Filipinos are expected to be reached through this multiplatform and multimedia agreement.
“It took us two weeks to sign up everyone to come onboard for this one [the cross-platform agreement]. The important thing is Manny [Pacquiao] himself played a great part in putting this together. Even if it was 1 a.m in Los Angeles, he was still making phone calls,” Tieng said.
Diego de la Paz
Image credits: Roy Domingo