Papua New Guinea’s oldest and largest free-to-air television broadcaster EMTV has signed a partnership agreement with FIBA (The International Basketball Federation) to become the “Official Broadcaster of the 2017 FIBA Melanesia Basketball Cup”.

This partnership was announced by David Crocker, Executive Director of FIBA Oceania, at the unveiling of the official tournament logo and the launching of the event last Friday in Port Moresby.

The tournament will be held from 27 – 30 September 2017, with 16 matches total, and has confirmed participation by men’s and women’s teams from New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

In this partnership, EMTV has the exclusive TV and Online rights for New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji and PNG and has already entered into discussions with several broadcasters from these countries for possible relay telecasts.

Mr. Crocker stated, “this is a great opportunity for FIBA and Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea to further showcase basketball in the region”.

EMTV’s CEO Matthew Park expressed excitement about the agreement stating, “[EMTV] will be using its experience from recent sports broadcast successes such as the 2015 Pacific Games, the 2016 OFC Nations Cup and the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, to put together another landmark coverage for Basketball within the country and the region”.

“This partnership will strengthen the position of EMTV and local sports federations for more collaborations and cooperation in the future,” Mr Park added.

Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea CEO Joel Khalu was also thrilled about the new partnership.

“To help grow basketball in this country we need to have our high-level, marquee games shown on television and this new deal with EMTV and FIBA achieves that,” Khalu said.

“We are grateful to both EMTV and FIBA for making this happen and are looking forward to hosting a spectacular sporting event this September.”

For more information please contact BFPNG CEO Joel Khalu on khalujoel@gmail.com