From Court to Screen: Who Gets to Watch?
“Ring, ring, ring!”
It’s 3:00 am, and your alarm sounds, telling you to get up. With classes starting in just a few hours, you should probably go back to sleep. Instead, you get out of bed, reach for your device, and turn on Alex Eala’s game you’ve been eagerly waiting to watch.
As students, we often stay up late studying and wake up early for school, so we look to entertainment to unwind. For sports fans, that may mean following a favorite team or athlete, even if it requires being awake in the middle of the night to watch them compete. But as traveling to watch every game is physically and financially impractical, live streaming has risen to be such a game-changer.
A live broadcast on the internet, otherwise known as live streaming, brings the action directly to us viewers, allowing sports to go beyond the venue and traditional television (TV). Unlike before when watching a game meant having cable TV or getting tickets to watch the game at the venue, live streaming has made sports more accessible by breaking the barrier between wanting to watch and not being able to attend in person.
Many sports fans follow games through sports websites, YouTube, Pilipinas Live, Bravo TV, and other streaming platforms. These online platforms allow us to pull out our devices and tune in anytime, anywhere, whether in the car, in restaurants, or in the comfort of our own homes.
Sports streaming has not only changed where Filipinos watch sports, but how they experience being a fan. Friends and family can now gather to cheer, celebrate, and enjoy the action together at watch parties. They can watch simultaneously with other Filipinos abroad, message each other about their favorite players, share clips and reels, and react on social media.
Driven by Filipinos’ sense of community, fans have held watch parties over the years for athletes such as Manny Pacquiao and, more recently, Eala. Filipinos stream matches from home or watch them together in different locations nationwide, while fans abroad gather at international venues to show their support. For instance, during Eala’s Wimbledon fourth-round match against Jasmine Paolini, fans gathered at the PhilSports Arena and various food establishments to watch the tennis star together, sharing the same excitement though spread across the world.
But it comes with a catch. Live streaming has quickly become a business opportunity as platforms now charge for subscriptions, implementing single-use passes and platform restrictions. Some platforms do not stream all games either, giving specialized channels an advantage. In tennis, for example, the center court matches are more often shown as they feature the top players. The convenience of accessing games online has become a disadvantage as fans are forced to pay more for additional coverage to follow their favorite athlete.
Another challenge is fragmented broadcast rights, with different companies holding the streaming rights for specific games in different regions. This becomes even more inconvenient if the local provider or platform does not have the broadcasting rights for a particular match. Thus, platforms with exclusive rights take advantage by charging higher subscription fees. Instead of becoming more accessible, live streaming ends up creating an unnecessary financial burden for sports fans.
All this evidence makes one wonder: “Is sports streaming really more accessible if only some fans can pay?” What began as an open door has become another barrier, deepening the digital divide. For Filipinos who cannot afford multiple subscription fees nor access the internet, streaming does not necessarily make sports more accessible—it instead creates another form of exclusion.
But as always, Filipinos find a way around these barriers. Watch parties in public spaces gives fans a chance to watch together, while other groups pool their money to split the cost of a subscription. These creative workarounds reflect the Filipino spirit of finding ways to cope with financial and technological challenges. Today, this value is evident in the support surrounding Eala’s matches, with fans gathering in stadiums and public spaces or streaming from home to watch and cheer her on.
As the glow of your screen lights up your face at 3:00 am and Eala makes her first serve, you can’t help but think about how far sports viewing has come. From watching games courtside to streaming them on a screen, technology has made it possible to bring fans from across the world together.
Accessibility is not just about bringing a game to the screen, but making sure that people can actually watch it. When we come together and support one another, we can find ways to overcome these barriers as one community. Whether in the early mornings or late nights, live streaming bridges the gap, uniting every moment and goal shared across thousands of islands and even international waters.