SINGAPORE, March 2--Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/InfoQuest
ESPN STAR Sports Scores By Providing Most Comprehensive Football
Coverage of Asia's Most Popular TV Sport
English Premier League viewers across Asia are being served more football
than in England on Asia's number one sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports. From
ten matches a week, a majority of them live, to a variety of different magazine
and news shows it is clear that fans are getting far and above the usual
football fix compared to fans in England.
The network's coverage of the English Premier League itself has scored its
own goals by becoming Asia's most watched sports programming. Compared to
viewers in England, sports fans here get to watch ten matches each competition
week including a line-up of programming that covers predictions, highlights,
news and information as well as pre- and post-game analysis. By the close of
the season, sports viewers in Asia would have seen up to 380 League matches
compared to the previous 165.
The network has also produced an unprecedented number of programmes
dedicated to the English Premier League. For the current 2004/2005 season
alone, ESPN STAR Sports has produced a total of 10 programmes covering
predictions, highlights and the latest soccer information. The programming
line-up includes staples Football Focus and Tiger First Edition hosted by John
Dykes, and new favourites like Football Crazy, an alternative football-based
show aimed at Asian youth. All programmes include content and elements that
engage and involve viewer participation taking soccer entertainment to a whole
new level.
ESPN STAR Sports boasts a stellar football programming schedule that also
includes coverage of some of the world's most-watched soccer tournaments
including the English Premier League, FA Cup, Senior and Under 21 England home
matches, World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, Spanish Primera Liga
and the UEFA Champion's League among others.
Said Rik Dovey, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports: "We have invested a
great deal to strengthen and enhance our soccer coverage and programming. This
unprecedented number of English Premier League programmes demonstrates our
commitment to deliver not only the most complete but the best coverage of the
League to sports fans across Asia. Together with our FA package of football
rights, UEFA Champions League, Asian Football packages and Spanish Primera
Liga, it has reaffirmed our position as Asia's most complete provider of sports
programming. From the ratings, it is evident viewers appreciate expanded
football coverage and the enjoyment we have brought to the game."
The League's 2004/2005 season is seen in 210 million homes across Asia live
and exclusive on ESPN STAR SPORTS. In the last season alone, 8 out of 10
million people with cable in Asia tuned in weekly to watch the drama and
excitement of the EPL. League matches on ESPN STAR Sports continue to be the
top programming 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 110 million households for ESPN and over
54 million households for STAR Sports (as of July 2004). We have 13
networks -- ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN
(Korea), ESPN Singapore, ESPN Hong Kong, Xing Kong Sports, STAR Sports India,
STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports S.E.A and STAR Sports
Hong Kong. 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 Asian X Games 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.
ESPN STAR Sports
Stephenie Vasko
+65-6488-6126
[email protected]
Cheryl Sim
+65-6488-6134
[email protected]
SOURCE: ESPN STAR Sports
--Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--