News
FIBA World Cup broadcast lauded for world-class coverage
Coverage flex by Cignal TV
After more than two weeks of nonstop basketball action, the FIBA World Cup 2023 held in Manila came to a close last September 10.
Excitement ran at an all-time high for the local fans. The Philippines enjoyed the honor of hosting the world’s best teams as they battled it out for basketball supremacy.
Records were broken. The opening match between Gilas Pilipinas and the Dominican Republic at the Philippine Arena drew some 38,115 fans. It happened on August 25, 2023 and set the FIBA World Cup record for live attendance.
Fans also met the first Filipino Digital Human named “Pearl” — a collaboration between Smart-PLDT, NTT Data, and MediaQuest.
The team effort of the entire MVP Group of Companies was commended by International Basketball Federation Secretary General Andreas Zagklis. He says the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 has “lived up to expectations and delivered in terms of drama, fan engagement, social media stats, and overall experience.”
Unprecedented Coverage
Cignal TV applied its combined strengths in event production and sports broadcasting. This resulted in world-class staging of games and coverage.
Fans from all over the Philippines enjoyed the games at the 238 watch parties held in 92 locations nationwide. This was spearheaded by Cignal TV, in partnership with participating malls and barangays.
While those who watched the games from their homes were provided various options: free-to-air channels on TV5 and One Sports; Pay TV channels One Sports+ and PBA Rush; and Cignal and SatLite pay-per-view services.
Pilipinas Live
Meanwhile, Cignal TV’s OTT streaming platform Pilipinas Live showed all 92 games without commercial interruption. The sports app raised the fans’ viewing experience to a whole new level. It provided a host of unique features including multi-camera views, behind-the-scenes, and the fan stream feature.
“As the official Philippine Media Rights Holder of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, we produced the best game coverage using state-of-the-art equipment as well as the studio shows for our various broadcast and streaming platforms,” said Cignal TV’s First Vice President and Head of Channel and Content Management, Sienna G. Olaso. She also served as Broadcast, Media, and Ceremonies Head for FIBA LOC.
For Jane J. Basas, President and CEO of Mediaquest Holdings and Cignal TV, the successful hosting and broadcast of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in Manila was the culmination of years of hard work made possible by the MVP Group. She also served as Head of the Ways and Means Committee of the FIBA LOC.
“We are truly honored to be given the opportunity to deliver this memorable experience. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all our partners at FIBA, SBP, Smart-PLDT, our production and broadcast teams from Cignal, and all the volunteers who made this possible,” said Basas.
Cignal TV, FIBA World Cup 2027 in Qatar
With the successful conclusion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, Cignal TV is now ramping up efforts of furthering its world-class production and broadcast capabilities and has set its sights on the upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, as well as the 2027 FIBA World Cup to be held in Qatar.
Entertainment
UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony hits Makati in October
Determination arrives in October.
For so small of a game, UNDERTALE quickly made it into the gaming world’s hall of fame. Despite being only a decade old, the small title has had a major influence for modern-day gamers because of its unique gameplay, its lo-fi art, and, of course, its catchy soundtrack. If you’re a fan of UNDERTALE’s soundtrack, a unique concert experience is headed your way.
On October 17, Film Concerts PH, in partnership with SOHO Live, is hosting UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony at the Proscenium Theater in Rockwell, Makati.
The concert will be performed by the Filharmonika Orchestra and conducted by Thanapol Setabrahmana. Personally curated by creator Toby Fox and developed by Lambert Jackson with Materia Music, the concert experience showcases the game’s most recognizable tunes laid over gameplay footage playing simultaneously. Plus, for the world tour, the experience will have expanded scoring.
In the game, you play as a small child stuck in the mysterious Underground filled with interesting characters and monsters. Unlike traditional RPGs, UNDERTALE asks players to choose between building relationships and chasing after wins. It’s a unique experience that’s defined by whether you chose to make friends or fought your way to the top. It teaches players to value different ways to solve problems, all while showering them with its one-of-a-kind humor.
Pre-sales for the concert, exclusively for members of the Film Concerts PH community, start on August 4. Public sales, however, will start on August 11 via Ticketmelon.
SEE ALSO: The hunt begins: The Witcher in Concert hits Manila with surprises in tow
The price of technology isn’t fun these days. Because of the ongoing RAM shortage wrought by AI, companies across the industry are raising the prices of their products. Some, however, are still willing to shoulder the burden for their customers. Unfortunately, Qualcomm is soon leaving that list.
As reported by Bloomberg, Qualcomm will raise the prices of its products starting in September. Though the exact figure is unknown, the company did confirm that it’s in the double digits, percentage-wise. According to them, they can no longer shoulder the costs for its customers.
If you’re just a regular user, Qualcomm’s prices might not mean much for you. After all, the chipmaker doesn’t make phones of its own.
That said, Qualcomm is still one of the biggest suppliers for smartphone chipsets, including those that Samsung uses. Pushing the burden from chipsets to phone manufacturers reduces one more buffer against costs being ultimately pushed to consumers.
All things considered, Samsung managed to keep its prices hikes relatively low with the latest batch of foldables. However, with chips getting more price increases, it’s still within the realm of possibility that Samsung will also increase the price of its smartphones. The same can be said for any Qualcomm-powered smartphone available today.
News
Apple is reportedly delaying its smart glasses due to privacy concerns
The brand wants to squash malicious recording.
Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While early adopters are celebrating the ability to record everything, a growing group of critics are decrying the loss of privacy. Formerly at full throttle, Apple, in response to these controversies, will reportedly delay its version of smart glasses to next year.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is heading back to the drawing board to further emphasize the unreleased wearable’s privacy protections, which includes “hardware and software-related privacy features not available on current products.” The report, however, doesn’t enumerate what these features are.
If anything, these features will likely prevent malicious recording. Most smart glasses today have a light that tells passersby that the device is actively recording video. However, users have discovered ways to tamper and disable this light, so their devices can start recording without alerting others. Apple will likely introduce better measure to prevent such tampering.
Additionally, it’s also possible that Apple introduces a version of the smart glasses without a camera attached.
Because of these new initiatives, the brand will delay the launch of the wearable to sometime next year. Previously, there was heavy speculation that the smart glasses will launch later this year.
On the bright side, there’s still substantial reason to believe that Apple is launching its first ever foldable device later this year.
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