WHO OWNS the broadcast rights for the much anticipated rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales?
Solar Sports said the cable channel has the right to show the fight on local television owing to an agreement with Top Rank, the lead promoter of the fight that will be held on Nov. 18 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Solar Sports’ chief operating officer Peter Chanliong bared yesterday.
Chanliong said Solar Sports is in “full control of the situation” and that the company is currently holding talks with several TV networks in the hopes of coming up with the “best possible deal.”
“At the end of the day, (the TV rights will be given to) the best possible broadcast partner,” said Chanliong, who expects Solar Sports to come to an agreement with its TV partner “by the end of August.”
So coveted is the TV rights for the November showdown that a veteran blocktimer said they are willing to shell out as much as 0,000 (P5.5 million) for it.
Solar Sports believes it has the inside track since the company had forged an agreement with Top Rank in the telecast of fights in the Philippines that the promotional outfit stages.
The last time Pacquiao fought against Oscar Larios last July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum it was ABS-CBN which aired the bout although it was on channel 2 that the second fight between Pacquiao and Morales last January was shown in a partnership between Solar Sports and ABS-CBN.
But Pacquiao’s camp will pitch for the the TV rights when the fighter himself travels to the US early next month to meet with Top Rank big boss Bob Arum, boxing man Wakee Salud told the Bulletin yesterday.
“We will finalize everything when we get there. Manny deserves to get the TV rights,” said Salud, who will join Pacquiao and lawyer Franklin Gacal in the trip that will also coincide with the formal announcement of the Pacquiao-Morales 3 during a press conference on Aug. 12 in Las Vegas.
The official fight contract hasn’t been signed even if Top Rank had announced two weeks ago that the Pacquiao-Morales III will push through as scheduled.
