SINGAPORE, Aug. 24 - /Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/InfoQuestTiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Nokia Seal Sponsorship Agreements for Asia's Most Popular TV Sport SINGAPORE, 24 August /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number one sports broadcaster has concluded broadcast sponsorship deals with four of Asia's most recognizable brands - Tiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Nokia - for Asia's most popular TV sport, the English Premier League (EPL). The sponsorship agreement will see all four brands enjoying regional association with the 2004/2005 English Premier League season through a combination of multi-level integrated benefits. This includes on-air and online entitlements around all 'live' matches and repeats on ESPN and STAR Sports as well as marketing and online benefits. Says Greg Hayes, Senior Vice-President, Advertising Sales and Multi-Media Ventures, "We are delighted to see the return of Tiger, Toshiba and Nokia and welcome Toyota on board as broadcast sponsors of the English Premier League. We have invested a great deal to enhance and strengthen our EPL coverage and programming. This, along with our creative advertising solutions and extensive reach across Asia, provides an excellent platform for such brands to take their marketing strategies further. These broadcast sponsorships with ESPN STAR Sports signal their confidence in our ability to add value to their brands. Our sponsors clearly see the benefits of an association with the League and we are very pleased to offer them an avenue to leverage its enormous potential." Chris Kidd, Director Group Marketing, Asia Pacific Breweries, "Tiger Beer is thrilled to be back as the official broadcast sponsor of the English Premier League. Tiger Beer has a long tradition of supporting football at all levels: local, national and international. The EPL has a huge following in Asia and for Tiger Beer, this broadcast sponsorship, as well as our tie-up with Arsenal in several South East Asian countries, will allow our customers the chance to watch and experience the number one league in the world." Akio Ozaka, Managing Director, Toshiba Singapore, "We are excited to be part of the world's most thrilling soccer tournament for the fourth season running. As an international brand, we see this as a wonderful opportunity to enhance our brand further and ESPN STAR Sports gives us the platform to do just that." Shigeru Takayanagi, Senior Vice-President, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, "We are delighted to take part in delivering one of the most followed sports events to the many soccer fans in Asia. This sponsorship allows us to explore with viewers, another exciting and enjoyable aspect of life even as we continue to deliver vibrancy and exhilaration, through our wide range of vehicles." Pasi Jarvenpaa, Director, Mobile Phones Marketing, Nokia Asia Pacific, "The English Premier League is a wonderful platform to strengthen our affinity with soccer enthusiasts who are also Nokia consumers in Asia. With this sponsorship-our second year on the EPL-we have the opportunity to communicate the full benefits of technology beyond SMS TV such as Java and xHTML to bringing the exciting world of technotainment to diverse audiences to the region in a fun and interactive say." The English Premier League season, which kicked off on August 14, is seen in 210 million homes across Asia live and exclusive on ESPN and STAR Sports. For the first time, ESPN STAR Sports will double its coverage of the League. Ten matches will be shown each competition week instead of five, most of them 'live'. The rest are on a quick turnaround and accompanied by a line-up of programming which covers predictions, highlights, news and information, as well as pre and post-game analysis. Sports viewers can expect up to 380 matches each season compared to the previous 165. ESPN STAR Sports' coverage of the League also includes new programmes that will engage and involve viewer participation, taking soccer entertainment to a whole new level. The English Premier League is the most widely distributed sports programming across Asia. In the 2003/2004 season alone, 8 out of 10 people with cable in Asia tuned in weekly to watch the drama and excitement of the EPL. While Asia's sizeable out of home audience remains unmeasured by in-home Peoplemeter measurements, research indicates that 64% watch the EPL outside their homes every week. EPL Matches on ESPN STAR Sports continue to be the top programme on cable, rating 10 times better than the best programme on all other cable channels. (Peoplemeter) ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. We are Asia's complete sports provider reaching over 128 million households for ESPN and over 54 million households for STAR Sports (as of January 2004). We have 11 networks - ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Singapore, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Singapore and STAR Sports S.E.A. We bring the world's premier live sports and leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia, including the KL World 5's and the San Miguel Asian 9Ball Tour. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform which is closely integrated with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks, has established the sites as the number one on-line sports destination in their respective markets. For further information, please contact: Stephenie Vasko ESPN STAR Sports Tel: (65) 6488 6126 Email: [email protected] Cheryl Sim ESPN STAR Sports Tel: (65) 6488 6123 Email [email protected] SOURCE: ESPN STAR Sports --Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)----InfoQuest (SP)--