3 September 2004, Singapore : Following the success of its three Asian versions of SportsCenter, ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s number one sports broadcaster now introduces a fourth edition of its award-winning news show, this time created for Hong Kong viewers.
Starting September 6, 2004, this latest version of SportsCenter will be broadcast in Cantonese to viewers in Hong Kong on the new ESPN Hong Kong, which together with STAR Sports Hong Kong launched on 17 August 2004 on PCCW’s now Broadband TV platform. now Broadband TV have an exclusive multi-year agreement for the distribution of the ESPN and STAR Sports channels in Hong Kong.
Rik Dovey, Managing Director of ESPN STAR Sports said, ‘This is another milestone for ESPN STAR Sports in Asia, with September 2004 proudly marking four years since we began delivering our world-class programming to the region. To this day, SportsCenter remains one of our biggest initiatives and reflects the company’s investment in high-quality long-term sports programming.’
He continued, ‘I’m confident the localisation of this success-proven programme will serve Hong Kong well – in addition to having footage from more events than any of our competition, we also have first-class local presenters and producers delivering sports news at a level previously unavailable in this market. Elsewhere in Asia, SportsCenter is already the most popular sports news program among cable subscribers and we expect SportsCenter Hong Kong to mirror this success.’
The half-hour bulletin of SportsCenter Hong Kong will air Mondays to Fridays at 8 pm and 11.30 pm (Hong Kong time) and will be presented by a familiar face to Hong Kong viewers, ESPN STAR Sports presenter, Matthew Mui. (Bio attached)
ESPN’s pioneering localisation of the flagship sports news programme that has long been an institution among American sports fans furthers the globalisation of SportsCenter. As part of its localization strategy where content is tailored to the culture, language and viewing habits of the region, ESPN STAR Sports began offering sports news content relevant and familiar to its viewers – first with SportsCenter India, followed by SportsCenter Taiwan and SportsCenter Asia (for S.E Asia). Radio bulletins of the award-winning news programme are also heard in Taiwan and Singapore. With the addition of SportsCenter Hong Kong, the worldwide SportsCenter franchise now includes nine locally produced versions, with transmissions in Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Portugese and Spanish, serving millions of sports fans in Asia, North America and Latin America.
The three Asia versions of SportsCenter on ESPN STAR Sports have become must-watch sports news shows as seen in peoplemetered markets across Asia. Research data shows SportsCenter rating better than the top cable programming on other channels including action, news, documentaries, movies and music programming. The same data also shows that among professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEBs), SportsCenter consistently rates better than any sports news programming on cable – including their in-programme sports segments (TN Sofres). As SportsCenter continues to lead the sports competition in Asia, it has also shown steady growth with key markets registering as much as an 17.7% increase against upscale cable male viewers (aged 25 – 49) in Singapore in cumulative reach over a 12-month period.
For more details contact:
Cheryl Sim
Marketing Communications
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel : (65) 6488 6134