ESPN Star Sports Acquires FA TV Rights Package
ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has announced another major programming acquisition, successfully concluding an exclusive multi-year agreement with England’s governing body of football, The Football Association (The FA). This latest acquisition further reinforces the network’s position as Asia’s number one sports broadcaster.
The four-year FA package covers exclusive broadcast rights to all FA Cup matches, The FA Community Shield, all Senior and Under-21 England Team home matches from seasons 2004/5 to 2007/8 including all friendly matches, World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. These four seasons promise to be the most exciting in English football history as fans will also get to see some of the very first matches played at the brand new Wembley Stadium, due to open early in 2006.
Said ESS Managing Director, Rik Dovey, ‘The conclusion of this agreement is of vital strategic importance as we continue to deliver top-flight programming to viewers across Asia. This package of programming is clearly of a very select class of football programming, showcasing not just the world’s number one Club Cup competition but the England Team as well – the most closely followed football team in Asia, if not the world. Our strategy is to have the key sport viewers want – this competition fits. ‘
He continued, ‘Key to this acquisition was the fact that rights holders like The FA clearly recognise that we have the best distribution of any sports network in Asia and appreciate the value we bring to their properties. On air, we will present the sport with first-class production values using our facilities in the UK and Asia to dramatically improve the presentation of the competition and so enhance viewer appreciation.’
This acquisition means that more than 128 million households will get to watch The FA match package across ESS’s 11 services, which broadcasts to 25 countries including China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.
Jonathan Hill, The FA’s Group Commercial Director, said: ‘We are delighted to be able to announce our partnership with ESS who we firmly believe will deliver excellent exposure for both the England Team and The FA Cup in the key Asian markets that it covers. With the new Wembley Stadium due for completion in early 2006 we believe we will deliver to Asian viewers world-class football in a world-class setting. This deal also continues the long tradition of Asian interest in The FA Cup and in particular the traditional May Final.’
In all, ESS will deliver more than 300 hours of match coverage and related support programming including highlights, features and interstitials – the most comprehensive coverage of English football related to the Senior and Under-21 England Teams as well as FA Cup club football.
The football programming calendar will cover the best of FA Cup matches, FA Community Shield and the England national games until 2008. The FA Cup is recognised as the oldest and most famous domestic knockout competition, which traditionally begins in November and culminates with The FA Cup Final in May. The FA Cup Final is also one of the most viewed football matches in terms of global television reach and the pinnacle of the English football calendar. The FA Community Shield is the English football season’s high-profile curtain raiser, held a week prior to the kick off of the English Premier League season in August and played between the two major trophy-winning clubs from the previous season. In addition, the England national team will play a minimum of 23 games comprising five FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2004-2005, six UEFA European Championship qualifiers in 2006-2007 and a minimum of 12 friendly matches during the term of ESS’s broadcast agreement.
Concluded Mr Dovey, ‘All this football along with the English Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, NBA basketball, top international cricket, the Masters, British and US Open golf majors, Australian, Wimbledon & US Open tennis, Major League Baseball, snooker as well as daily sports news completes what is the strongest programming line-up of any sports broadcaster in the world.’
For further information contact:
Stephenie Vasko, ESPN STAR Sports
tel: +65 6488 6126
email: vaskos@espnstar.com
or
Nick Barron, The FA
email: nick.barron@thefa.com