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| Launched | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Closed | August 31, 2020 (legislative franchise lapsed) |
| Division of | ABS-CBN Narrowcast |
| Country of origin | Philippines |
| Owner | ABS-CBN Corporation |
| Key people |
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| Headquarters | Quezon City |
| Major broadcasting contracts | |
| Sister network | |
| Format | Sports |
| Original language(s) | Filipino (main) English (secondary) |
ABS-CBN Sports was a sports division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation, which aired some of the notable sporting events in the Philippines.
ABS-CBN Sports began in 1998 as the main broadcaster for the network-backed basketball league Metropolitan Basketball Association which introduced the home-and-away play format in the Philippine basketball landscape. Simultaneous with that (shortly before the MBA collapsed), it acquired the broadcast rights to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA) collegiate basketball leagues, which bolstered Studio 23's ratings and at the same time aligned further toward the said channel's programming thrust to the youth.
ABS-CBN Sports also supplant contents to their sports channel S+A aired on UHF Channel 23 (main channel) and Sky Cable Channel 166 (HD channel). The division also maintains their official website, sports.abs-cbn.com, one of the top sports news websites in the Philippines.
On July 16, 2020, the final buzzer sounded as the staff and employees of the sports division became part of a series of retrenchments, following the July 10 vote of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises denied the network a congressional franchise, officially ceased its operations on August 31.[1][2][3]
Following the closure, several sports rights were transferred to the different TV channels (including TAP Sports and Premier Sports, both owned by TAP Digital Media Ventures Corporation). Despite the closure, ABS-CBN Sports continued to deliver sports update on digital platforms.
- ^ "Philippines top broadcaster ABS-CBN denied new licence". BBC News. July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- ^ Philip Matel (July 16, 2020). "ABS-CBN Sports, longtime home of numerous leagues, signs off". tv5.espn.com. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- ^ "Final buzzer sounds for ABS-CBN Sports". ABS-CBN News. July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2021.