“The partnership commits to ensure that the NCAA becomes the country’s premier interscholastic sports league in the country with the promise of national, local, and worldwide audiences through GMA’s formidable multimedia platforms in order to provide the NCAA with unmatched reach and scale,” the official statement read.

The media giant will be the home of the oldest collegiate league starting on its season 96 slated next year where the four major sports basketball, volleyball, swimming, and athletics will be aired on its GMA News TV channel.

The basketball finals tournament will be aired on the network’s major channel GMA7.

Moreover, games can be streamed online on their website GMANetwork.com and fans abroad can catch the games on GMA Pinoy TV.

With GMA being the home of NCAA for five and a half years, the network will also have the broadcast rights of the historic centennial anniversary of the collegiate league in 2024.

“We look forward with hope and excitement as we work together to form our young student-athletes to become the next champions and national athletes who will bring honor and glory to our beloved country, moving towards the league’s centennial year,” said NCAA Season 96 Policy Board president Fr. Rector Clarence Victor Marquez, OP of host Letran.

“We are excited that GMA Network is the new home of the NCAA. At the same time, we are grateful to the NCAA board for putting their trust in GMA to serve as a platform in showcasing the talented Filipino student-athletes,” added GMA Network Chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon

According to sources, GMA had edged out TV5 in the bidding war after they were able to provide the league with weekend time slots, which the latter had already reserved for the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) for its five and a half year deal.