The league's broadcast partner, Vintage Sports, switched networks from People's Television to Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation.
But, this time, it was controlled by Carlos Velez's Vintage Sports as part of the coverage.
For the first 13 years of broadcast, Vintage Sports had an all-English format in delivering the games.
Trinidad and Yeng Guiao would also become one of the most popular tandems in Vintage Sports.
His early light flyweight division fights took place in small local venues and were shown on Vintage Sports' Blow by Blow, an evening boxing show.
PBA on Vintage Sports (1982-1999)
Around the time he was the PBL commissioner, he also joined Vintage Sports as their regular color commentator from 1997 to 1999.
The first was from 1996-2002 when Vintage Sports and later Viva Sports handled the television coverage.
Using the service vehicle of Vintage Sports, Barutag was rushed to the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital and was declared dead on arrival.
At first, he was with the coverage team of Vintage Sports and later became the Executive Director of the league.