TO BETTER SERVE millions of sports fans in the Philippines, TV5 Network Inc. and ESPN today announced a long-term collaboration to launch a new brand designed specifically for them: ESPN 5.
“This long-term collaboration across television and digital allows us to jointly serve millions of sports fans in the Philippines with exceptional content and coverage,” says Mike Morrison, Vice President and General Manager of ESPN APAC.
“We are very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as we bring ESPN’s great content, and decades of experience in sports media together with a dynamic leader in Philippine sports broadcasting like TV5,” Morrison added.
TV5’s ‘Sports 5’ becomes ‘ESPN 5,’ covering all of TV5’s sports programming. ESPN will also license more than 2,500 hours of additional programming per year to TV5 from its sports rights, original programming, and studio shows, and the two will co-produce a daily Philippine edition of the iconic SportsCenter for TV5.
ESPN5 and the SportsCenter Philippine Edition will air on TV5’s free-to-air television channels – TV5 and Aksyon 41.
Speaking about the agreement, Vincent “Chot” Reyes, President of TV5 said, “Our partnership with ESPN, long recognized as the worldwide leader in sports, gives us tremendous upside in the quality of sports programming that we bring to the market. ESPN strengthens our current position as the country’s sports authority. It is also a testament to our belief that the Filipino audience deserves the world’s best in sports content and programming.”
TV5 President Vincent “Chot” Reyes says ESPN strengthens his network’s position as the country’s sports authority.
The deal is part of TV5’s push to deliver the most comprehensive sports coverage in the Philippines, with Filipino audiences getting the combined benefit of local and global sports coverage and industry-leading programming from both ESPN and TV5.
ESPN 5 on TV
On TV, the ESPN 5 lineup includes TV5’s current sports rights portfolio — the PBA, FIBA competitions, GILAS, UFC, and the PSL — plus thousands of hours of new ESPN content, including more than 70 NFL games per season: Monday, Sunday, and Thursday Night Football, the entire NFL Playoffs, the Super Bowl, and the Pro Bowl. Live games come alongside award-winning ESPN NFL studio programming like NFL Live.
Other ESPN programming included in the ESPN 5 agreement includes:
• Original, award-winning ESPN studio programs including Around the Horn and Pardon The Interruption.
• U.S. College Basketball (including the March Madness® NCAA Championship Tournaments);
• X Games, the premier action sports and youth lifestyle competition globally;
• ESPN’s Big Fights library, including many of the greatest boxing fights of all time;
• ESPN Films’ multi-Award Winning sports documentaries (including the 30 For 30 series);
• Major conference American college football (including the College Football Playoff and National Championship and comprehensive coverage of the college football bowl season);
• IndyCar Racing (including the iconic Indianapolis 500);
• NCAA college sport championships from baseball, softball, lacrosse and football;
The iconic SportsCenter Philippine Edition will be a unique, daily program that will be produced each day from TV 5 studios in the Philippines.
ESPN 5 Digital Media
ESPN and TV5 will offer a co-branded, multisport ESPN 5 website and app to fans in the Philippines — a mobile-first platform combining TV5’s local sports news, video, and analysis with ESPN’s coverage of basketball, global football, tennis, boxing, MMA, badminton, athletics, American football, eSports, and more. Expect scores, up-to-the-minute news and stats, commentary, and video, all built around serving Filipino fans specifically. More details on the site and app will follow.
The two will also jointly launch an ESPN 5 edition of the ESPN Player streaming service later this year, adding thousands of hours of live streaming content — hundreds of NCAA college basketball and football games, X Games, and IndyCar racing at launch, with PBA, PSL, and Gilas games to follow.