SINGAPORE: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has good news for Asian football fans. The broadcaster has renewed its exclusive pay-TV multi-year cable and satellite rights in Asia for the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The announcement comes at the close of the 2002/2003 UCL season and after news that the network won exclusive pay-tv broadcast rights for yet another strong Asian sports property, the World Professional Pool Championships (WPPC). An official release informs that the acquisitions reinforce the company’s long-term position as Asia’s most complete sports provider, both in terms of broadcast hours and the quality of its coverage. The multi-year deal, which also includes Pay-Per-View and Video-On-Demand rights and terrestrial rights for China represents the continuation of the successful partnership between ESS and UCL.
Each week, ESS will air four live matches including the Finals across most of Asia (Taiwan and Philippines will see two live matches a week). While this matches the number of games a week shown during the 2002/2003 season, ESS will create a range of support programming to provide football fans with news, analysis and highlights shows, making it the most comprehensive coverage of the Champions League on Asian television. In total, the nine ESPN and STAR Sports channels will deliver a total of 125 matches and more than 295 hours of programming over the season.
ESS MD Rik Dovey made the following remarks about the new deal, “ESS’ proven ability to value-add to sport properties was a deciding factor in the award of multi-year rights for the UEFA Champions League. For us, having a long-term commitment means that we can continue to invest more resources and further develop the League’s audiences across Asia.
“Rights holders like UEFA know we have the best distribution of any sports networks in Asia and they appreciate the value we bring to their product not only through the biggest audience, but also the way we present their product, through scheduling, production and expert commentary. They want to see their League continue to grow in Asia. That’s why they have committed to ESS on a long-term basis.’
The 2003/2004 UEFA Champions League season which begins on 17 September , 2003 on ESPN and Star Sports, will reach over 128 million households on ESPN and over 57 million households on Star Sports.
Tag: WPPC
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ESS bags rights to UEFA Champions League till 2006
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ESPN STAR Sports Launches Asia’s First Professional 9-Ball Tour for Men
MUMBAI: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has announced the launch of the inaugural San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour 2003 beginning in Singapore on 15-16 March that will travel to Ho Chi Minh (12-13 April), Hong Kong (3-4 May), Taipei (24-25 May) and Manila (21-22 June) to determine who are Asia’s best pool players.
Organized by ESS’ Event Management Group, the Tour will feature Asia’s top players and will have US$50,000 prize money per leg. The top ten finishers on the Tour will get entry into the World Professional Pool Championships which takes place this year in Cardiff, UK in July. The San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is the only pool competition in Asia which allows players to garner points to qualify for the World Pool Championships, which is anticipated by many to make Asia its venue in 2004. The Tour will also form the basis for the annual ranking of the top players in Asia.
On the broadcasting front, the five stops of the Tour will be televised on Star Sports, culminating with the exclusive pan-Asian television broadcast of the World Professional Pool Championships also on the same channel. Star Sports viewers can catch seven hours of world-class pool coverage from each leg.
An estimated 36.6 million cable viewers were able to view last year’s World Professional Pool Championships (WPPC) on Star Sports, says an official release. In markets of India, Taiwan and Singapore, the event attracted 18.2 million cable viewers. In Singapore alone, viewership of WPPC increased 41 per cent in 2002, as compared to the year before, says the release quoting TAM data.
Before the San Miguel 9-Ball Tour, ESS was the host broadcaster of the inaugural Asian 8-Ball Championships in Singapore last September 2002 which attracted 167 entries from nine Asian countries.
The ESS Event Management Group specialises in creating, managing, promoting, consulting, producing and syndicating world class sporting events throughout Asia.