ESPN Star Sports wins Premier League

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ESPN Star Sports can breathe a sigh of relief. The Asian sports broadcaster has again won multi-territory rights to the English Premier League soccer competition, one of Asia’s key sports properties – and this time for multiple platforms.

Having just seen rights in one of its territories, Singapore, fall to SingTel (previously dominant cabler operator StarHub screened ESPN Star Sports’ coverage of the Premier League), ESPN Star Sports may have been getting nervous. All over the region, dominant pay-TV operators are facing competition, often from telcos eager to enter the pay-TV space.

But ESPN Star Sports has seen its status as Asia’s premier soccer broadcaster remain intact. Even in Malaysia, where dominant operator Astro was reportedly facing competition for the rights from Telekom Malaysia, which is planning an IPTV platform to launch in the first half of next year, ESPN Star Sports won out. The broadcaster will broadcast the Premier League in partnership with Astro in Malaysia and Brunei.

The 18 markets covered by the deal are: India, Indonesia, East Timor, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, North & South Korea, The Philippines, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as Malaysia and Brunei.

Under the terms of the deal, all 380 matches will be available to be shown live across multiple platforms including TV, internet and mobile. ESPN Star Sports operates TV channels (ESPN and Star Sports), online offering espnstar.com and mobile brand mobileESPN. Up to 190 matches will be available after airing on an on-demand basis.

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said, "We have been showcasing the BPL in Asia 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 the region as we continue providing the most compelling content to our viewers and an excellent promotional platform for our business partners.”

The broadcaster produces more than 1500 hours of original football programming to supplement its live football content and expand fans' interaction beyond the live games. Popular shows include: Football Focus, Castrol Football Crazy, Tiger World of Football, Goals, Football Forecast, First Edition, Maxis Football Extra in addition to the match presentation shows Primetime Premier League, Super Sunday and Final Score.


Source:RapidTVNews