ESPN5: Window to the sporting world

MANILA, Philippines — A window to the world of sports. That’s what ESPN5 provides to viewers, especially for those who can’t get enough of sporting games — and consider sports as a way of life.

As a division of TV5, ESPN5 is a representation of local and international sports events, offering a breather from the content the general entertainment market looks for.

As TV5 president Vincent “Chot” Reyes put it in a recent media call, “We’re focusing more on the properties that we have a chance to succeed in.” That is sports, where the network finds its strength.

“The morning is almost exclusively for international events, international sports. But the afternoon (slot) is for local content,” said Reyes. “We have a lot of local content, except that not all local content finds its way to television because we have limited hours of airtime but we make sure the afternoon and onwards is usually for local content.” He added, “There are a lot more in store for the future, in the pipeline.”

Local content carries Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Gilas, PBA D-League, Philippine Super Liga (PSL) and boxing, while international content encompasses NFL, US NCAA basketball, World of X Games, UFC Fight Night, among others. SportsCenter Philippines, hosted by Aaron Atayde, Lia Cruz, Magoo Marjon and Amanda Fernandez, is local content (a news program under the ESPN5 brand) that tells stories through the lens of sports.

ESPN5 head Lloyd Manaloto cited the Milo marathon story of Mary Joy Tabal as example of that storytelling. He said that the standard report would be about Mary Joy’s fifth Milo run. The narrative, however, that SportsCenter broadcast carried her win and the death of her father. “After the race, she was crying on camera and saying she had to run because it is what her father would have wanted her to do.”

With (clockwise) Aaron Atayde, ESPN5 head Lloyd Manaloto, Amanda Fernandez and Lia Cruz

Fernandez added that behind every athlete’s success, there’s a tale of struggle. “It makes a lot of sense for SportsCenter and ESPN5 to highlight that — whether it be in the form of entertainment. It is inspiring a lot of people to engage with that athlete.” She brought Hidilyn Diaz to the fore as example of an athlete who continues to train at the gym in spite of her silver medal win in the Rio Olympics. Viewers get a sneak peek into that process, “which is oftentimes painful,” Fernandez said, that athletes go through. “To be successful, to get the medal, you have to go through certain processes.” That as a tale is compelling — and engaging.

Speaking of audience engagement, IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas came to Manaloto’s mind. According to him, Pinoys didn’t know the Pinoy fighter. “And then, we knew (that) we were engaging fans because when he went to the States, there were Fil-Ams waiting for him (at the airport), who took selfies with him and it was covered by SportsCenter,” recalled Manaloto. “He has a following in Ireland, the US and also in China.” Engagement does not only boil down to an athlete’s fight but it also boils down to the story he has to tell.

In telling stories through the lens of sports, “there’s drama but not a scripted drama… a real life, real-time drama,” said Reyes. The reportage, however, remains objective.

That means ESPN5 captures the other games the athletes are playing beyond their sports. This type of reporting requires the hosts to go the extra mile from their usual newsreader role.
“We’re not just talking in front of the camera,” said Cruz. “We write our own stories. We have a team (that) writes stories for us. But once we get there (at the newsroom) early, we tweak the script and we write our own highlights. We are very much involved… We know what we are saying and what we are talking about.”

With that programming, particularly in the afternoon, ESPN5 offers a new TV watching habit that is breaking away from the mundane and the usual.

“We realized that it is counter programming,” said Reyes. “That’s what we exactly want to do. We really want to counter program because I have already told you before, if we try to do what the other giants are doing, we have no chance. I mean, I think we are honest enough to accept that. I think if we don’t accept that, then we’re in big trouble. So we intentionally counter programming. So hopefully, we capture that audience that is looking for a different putahe from what the other two (major networks) are offering. They are very strong. They are very good at what they are doing. So we have to find our strength.”

ESPN5 is also taking advantage of such features of digital platforms as ubiquity, accessibility and connectivity. So it recently launched ESPN5-branded editions of ESPN.com and subscription sports streaming service ESPN Player, which will get Filipinos more involved and engaged. These digital properties, as the information provided by ESPN5 shares, give sports fans a gateway to access latest news, scores, videos, to name a few, from the sporting scenes here and abroad. These efforts echo the 360-degree experience of covering sport events ESPN5 espouses.

Given its broadcast and online presence and coverage, ESPN5 is the window to the sporting world.