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ESPN Star Sports to Create North and South Asia Feeds

7 August 2001 Singapore: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) continues with its expansion in Asia. Starting 15 August Asia’s largest sports broadcaster will repackage its STAR Sports service, to create two dedicated feeds, STAR Sports Southeast Asia and STAR SportsAsia. This brings the number of feeds to a total of eight .

Previously, Southeast Asian sports fans shared a STAR Sports feed with their North Asia counterparts, which carried a combination of English and Mandarin commentary ,graphics, presentation and programming.

With the introduction of the new feed, the service has been split, to better cater to the specific sports and language preferences of the two regions. The presentation, graphics and packaging of the televised sports will reflect these changes.

STAR Sports Southeast Asia will remain as an encrypted service broadcasting 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week. It is targeted towards the viewing habits and preferences of the Southeast Asia market. Programmes include soccer, Formula One motor racing, tennis and golf. It will be available Asia-wide in the English language.

STAR Sports Asia will be a free-to-air service, also broadcasting 24-hours a day, 7-days-a-week. It will prioritize basketball, billiards/pool/snooker, baseball and bowling, which are popular among North Asian sports fans. STAR Sports Asia will be available in China and Chinese Taipei, broadcast in Mandarin.

Said Rik Dovey, Managing Director of ESPN STAR Sports, ‘This is part of our on-going customisation strategy, designed to bring our brands closer to our viewers. Localisation sends the message that we are listening and catering to viewership needs. Content is tailored to the culture, language and viewing habits of the region. Audiences want relevant content and familiarity.’

According to Mr Dovey, STAR Sports Southeast Asia and STAR Sports Asia now offer an even more efficient tools with which advertisers can precisely target their audience.

‘We have already done this in India and Taiwan and the returns in respect of brand equity and consumer loyalty are very apparent. Viewers get to see more of what they want, platforms are better able to sell our channel and advertisers can target their audience more efficiently, eliminating wastage It is a win-win situation for viewers, platform operators and advertisers.’

For further information, please check the website www.espnstar.com or contact:

Stephanie Green Chen at (65) 488 6134 or (65) 9689 6213 (Mobile)
Email: chens@espnstar.com

Or Stephenie David Vasko at (65) 488 6126 or (65) 9691 1591 (Mobile)
Email: davids@espnstar.com