BWI: ESPN STAR Sports Scores a Winner with Live and Exclusive Barclays Premier League Multi-Platform Rights in India until 2013

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 04:40 PM IST (11:10 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Entertainment, Sports; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Media & entertainment, Sports
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ESPN STAR Sports Scores a Winner with Live and Exclusive Barclays Premier League Multi-Platform Rights in India until 2013


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, October 07, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia's biggest sports content provider, announced today that it has secured exclusive rights to broadcast the Barclays Premier League (BPL) on multiple platforms in India. As a part of this arrangement, for the first time, all 380 BPL matches will be available to be shown live across multiple platforms including Television, Internet and Mobile with up to 190 matches available on a VOD basis.

This win reaffirms ESS' longstanding partnership with the Premier League stretching back more than a decade, a relationship which has seen the BPL brand enjoy massive growth in India since its initial broadcast on the ESS networks in 1995. In addition, ESS has also clinched exclusive rights for another 17 markets across Asia including: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Maldives, Mongolia, Indonesia, The Philippines, East Timor, Cambodia, Laos, North & South Korea and in partnership with Astro for Malaysia & Brunei.

Commenting on the win, Mr. Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said, "We have been showcasing the BPL in India for over a decade now and we are very pleased to further extend this association for another three seasons. This renewal underlines our commitment to football fans in India as we continue providing the most compelling content to our viewers and an excellent promotional platform for our business partners."

"We are very excited to renew our partnership with the Premier League with who we share a very strong relationship in many markets across the region. A relationship which has carried through to the fan with our coverage of live matches and continued focus towards developing the property with original, localized football programming and marketing activities and we are very pleased with our efforts in building a strong and loyal franchise of fans for Barclays Premier League in the Indian subcontinent."

Premier League Chief Executive, Mr. Richard Scudamore said, "We have worked with ESPN STAR Sports in a number of overseas territories for many years and we are very pleased to extend that partnership for seasons 2010/11 - 2012/13.

"We are proud to be working with an organisation that is world renowned for quality sports broadcasting and we have every confidence that they will continue to broadcast Barclays Premier League football in an exciting and innovative manner."

This renewal reinforces ESS' position as Asia's biggest sports content provider and fans in India can continue to look forward to a comprehensive, engaging and unique BPL experience across all platforms through its broadcast channels, ESPN and STAR Sports, its robust and popular online offering espnstar.com and the well-established mobile brand mobileESPN.

In addition to BPL, ESS' football offering in India includes world-class football content such as the FIFA World Cup 2010, a rich bouquet of AFC football events such as the AFC Champions League, the AFF Championship and the Asian Final Qualifying Round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In addition, ESS produces more than 1500 hours of original football programming to supplement its live football content and expand fans' interaction with their favorite sport beyond the live games. Popular shows include: Football Focus, Castrol Football Crazy, Goals, Football Forecast, First Edition, Maxis Football Extra in addition to the match presentation shows Primetime Premier League, Super Sunday and Final Score.

About ESPN STAR Sports

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies - Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) - to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services.

ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN SEA, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN SEA 2, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports SEA, STAR Sports SEA 2, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket.

On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile aims to provide interactive and entertaining opportunities to engage with sports, delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports original programmes covering opinions, instructional tips and the latest online game reviews.


CONTACT DETAILS
Nancy Agnihotri, Asst. Manager - Corporate Communications, ESPN STAR Sports, +91 9810768588, nancya@espnstar.co.in
Aparna Srivastava, IPAN Hill & Knowlton, +91 9811234594, aparna.srivastava@ipan.com

KEYWORDS
ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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