ESPN STAR Sports Broadcasts its First Sports Animation Series across Asia
Asia’s No. 1 Sports Broadcaster to air Supa Strikas series across its STAR Sports networks
30 January 2009, Singapore: Asia’s No. 1 sports content provider, ESPN STAR Sports, will broadcast the first sports animation series on its networks when Supa Strikas debuts next Monday on 2 February 2009.
Sponsored by Caltex, the show will air every Monday at 7.00pm on its STAR Sports networks across Asia, and is repeated on Saturdays at 11:30am. STAR Sports will air 13 half-hour episodes of the popular animated football series.
Targeted at youths, the show complements STAR Sports’ brand of sports entertainment as a refreshing, feel-good story of a young boy, Shakes, who realises and lives his dream against all odds, bringing a message of hope and inspiration to young kids and adults alike across the globe. The animated television series follows the fortunes of the Supa Strikas F.C. as Shakes and his teammates take on the world’s best teams in the Super League.
The programme adds a new dimension to ESPN STAR Sports’ strong line-up of football programming, which broadcasts top properties such as the Barclays Premier League, Uefa Champions League, FA Cup, AFC Football tournaments as well as original programmes that have garnered a large following across Asia such as Football Focus and Nokia Football Crazy.
Supa Strikas started off as one-minute animated shorts that were first aired in South Africa in late 2006, and became a huge success across various regions. This ultimately led to the development of the full animation series, which has been watched by more than 10 million people around the globe. The Supa Strikas animation series has been broadcast across other Caltex and Texaco countries in Africa and Latin America where Chevron sponsors the programme.
The animated television series started broadcasting in South Africa in November 2008 and is currently showing in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Colombia, Panama, El Salavador, Nigeria and Kenya. The programme has been dubbed into Bahasa Melayu and was launched in Malaysia in December 2008.
The Asia broadcast of Super Strikas comes just as the world gears up for two years of soccer madness with the Confederations Cup in 2009 and FIFA World Cup in 2010, which will be staged on African soil for the first time.
About ESPN STAR Sports
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia’s definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies – Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) – to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services.
ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN SEA, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN SEA 2, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports SEA, STAR Sports SEA 2, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket.
On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions.
Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile aims to provide interactive and entertaining opportunities to engage with sports, delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports original programmes covering opinions, instructional tips and the latest online game reviews.
About Chevron
Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business across the globe. The company’s success is driven by the ingenuity and commitment of approximately 59,000 employees who operate across the energy spectrum. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and other energy products; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels and other renewables. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com
For more information, please contact:
Elgen Kua (ESPN STAR Sports)
DID: +65 6216 6034
Email: kuae@espnstar.com
Yap Shan Shan (Chevron)
DID: +65 6318 1201
Email: shanshan.yap@chevron.com