New deal follows success in France & Italy and recent launches in Germany and Portugal
ESPN Classic Sport is set to launch in Belgium from 10th January 2005, following a carriage deal secured with leading Belgian cable operator Telenet.
Telenet will offer ESPN Classic Sport, seven days a week, with Dutch subtitles available on the programming between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. midday, and an English language feed available from 1.00am until 7.00am.
In Belgium, Telenet is one of the largest suppliers of broadband cable services, passing over 1.5 million homes in Flanders. ESPN Classic Sport, which broadcasts a rich mix of great sporting moments, great sporting heroes, and great entertainment, will join Telenet’s other strong channel offerings, namely the Cartoon Network and the popular film channel Turner Classic Movies.
ESPN Classic Sport’s programme highlights for 2005 include a profile of five-times Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx, as well as a major Winter Olympic Games special showcasing unforgettable moments from a variety of skiing greats including Franz Klammer, Hermann Maier and Alberto Tomba. ESPN Classic Sport’s lineup includes a wealth of timeless sporting programming, covering 80 different sports, which are scheduled to complement live sports events.
To boost brand awareness amongst viewers in Flanders, ESPN Classic Sport has designed a customized Belgian website (http://www.espnclassicsport.be/), which will include information about forthcoming shows and events, as well as great competitions and prizes.
ESPN Classic Sport’s launch in Belgium, preceded by its recent roll out in Germany and Portugal, brings the total number of countries offering the sports entertainment channel to 38. The channel has secured widespread distribution among multi-channel homes in France and Italy, where it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In total, ESPN Classic Sport is available to more than 15 million European households.
Commenting on ESPN Classic Sport’s launch in Flanders, Paul Israel, Director Media Partnerships Telenet, said: ‘ We’re delighted to offer our subscribers this quality strand of sports programming from ESPN Classic Sport and confident that it will generate a positive response in Flanders.’
Roch Pellerin, Managing Director of ESPN Classic Sport added: ‘ We’re excited to be working with Telenet in Flanders to extend the ESPN Classic Sport franchise. Telenet has good distribution in Belgium and is a proactive and dynamic partner to work with. The appetite for sports fans to relive emotions, associated with unforgettable moments and legendary encounters, continues to grow and this theme is at the heart of our new marketing campaign, “Sport Is Back,” which invites lovers of all forms of sport to revisit their most cherished memories.”
ESPN Classic Sport televises an entertaining mix of full-length matches, highlights, profiles, documentaries, magazine programmes and sports films, all of which complement live local and international sports events.
For more information, please contact:
ESPN Classic Sport
Mike McKibbin, Director of Marketing, ESPN Classic Sport, tel: +44 20 8233 66 31, e-mail: mmckibbin@espn-cs.com
or
Sarah Horner, MediaVision, Tel: + 34 91 622 16 93 or + 34 69 66 52 146 email: mediavision@dial.pipex.com
or
Chris Bellitti, ESPN Corporate Communications, Tel: +212 456 02 65 Email: chris.bellitti@espn.com
or
visit: www.espnclassicsport.com
or
www.espnclassicsport.be
or
TELENET
Paskal Deboosere, Telenet, Tel: +32 496 567 569 , or + 32 15 33 34 57 Email: paskal.deboosere@staff.telenet.be
PHOTOS & PROGRAMME INFORMATION: Programme Highlights and a selection of sports photos are available as jpegs via amasterman@espn-cs.com
Editors’ Notes:
ABOUT ESPN CLASSIC SPORT
1. ESPN Inc. is an international, multi-media sports entertainment company, owned by the Walt Disney Company (80%) and the Hearst Corporation (20%).
2.ESPN Classic Sport is 70% owned by ESPN Inc and 30% by affiliates of Falconhead Capital.
3. In the United States, ESPN Classic is the leader in presenting classic moments in sport and now reaches over 50 million subscribers. ESPN also has an equity interest in ESPN Classic Canada.
4. Today, there are seven ESPN networks in the United States (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU (launching March 2005), and ESPN Today). ESPN, the flagship network, reaches more than 89 million US households
ABOUT TELENET
Telenet is one of the largest providers of broadband cable services in Belgium. Its business comprises the provision of cable television, high speed internet and telephony services, primarily to residential customers in Flanders. In addition, Telenet offers services to business customers all across Belgium and in Luxembourg under its brand Telenet Solutions.
Telenet offers its residential services through a combination of its cable network, which passes some 1.7 million homes in Flanders and through long term usage rights on cable networks which pass a further 0.7 million homes in Flanders. All the networks through which Telenet offers residential services in Flanders have been upgraded to a two way digital HFC (hybrid fiber coaxial) standard and Telenet has direct relationships with all of its internet and telephony customers. Telenet offers voice, data and internet services to its business customers through its state of the art fiber backbone which covers all Belgium and Luxembourg.