13 April 2004, Singapore: Tennis fans across Asia will continue to enjoy comprehensive coverage of the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament following ESPN Star Sports’ successful renewal of exclusive multi-year cable and satellite rights for the Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon.
The announcement comes just weeks after news that ESPN Star Sports had retained its stronghold of exclusive television rights of the English Premier League in Asia, reinforcing its long-term position as Asia’s number one and most complete sports broadcaster, both in terms of programming and the quality of its coverage.
This latest multi-year acquisition completes a stellar list of the world’s top tennis events already airing on the ESPN Star Sports network across Asia, including the Australian and US Open tennis tournaments. It also represents the continuation of a successful partnership between ESPN Star Sports and the All England Lawn Tennis Club. For over a decade, ESPN Star Sports (and its predecessor Prime Sports) has been bringing all the excitement of Wimbledon to tennis fans across Asia.
The agreement will once again allow the network to take full advantage of packaging and producing programming in its own style, directly from the Wimbledon grounds. As in previous years, ESPN Star Sports will support its Wimbledon match coverage with a comprehensive package including daily highlights, analysis as well as profiles of top competitors and Asian contestants.
Says ESPN Star Sports Managing Director, Rik Dovey, ‘Wimbledon remains the most widely watched tennis tournament in the world and it is being made available to the largest possible audience in Asia through ESPN Star Sports. Key to this acquisition was the fact that rights holders recognise that we have the best distribution of any sports network in Asia and appreciate the value we bring to their properties. Wimbledon is no exception – year after year, through our first-class production values and support programming, we have dramatically improved the presentation of this tournament and enhanced viewer appreciation for the event as well as the sport as a whole.’
Added Dovey, ‘The EPL, along with our newly acquired exclusive FA package of football rights, UEFA Champions League, the Asian Football packages, in some territories the Euro 2004 and Spanish Primera Liga, as well as NBA basketball, top international cricket, the Masters, British and US Open golf majors, Australian & US Open tennis, Major League Baseball, snooker and daily sports news completes what is the strongest programming line-up of any sports broadcaster in the world.’
The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon have developed from the garden party atmosphere of the first meeting in 1877, witnessed by a few hundred spectators, to a tournament attracting an attendance of close to 500,000 people and through radio, internet and television, a following of millions throughout the world.
According to the Wimbledon Director of Television, John Rowlinson, ESPN Star Sports’ proven ability to value-add to sport properties was a deciding factor in the award of multi-year rights to the company.
He said, ‘We are delighted to renew our partnership with ESPN STAR Sports for a further five years. We appreciate, in particular, how well they have promoted The Championships in the past, and the way in which their distribution network has grown in strength, particularly in China.’
Last year’s tournament demonstrated the profile and growth of interest in Wimbledon, with coverage increasing throughout most of the world. Nearly 1.8 billion people received some coverage of the Wimbledon Championships during the fortnight of the competition. Over 167 million homes enjoyed it on ESPN Star Sports and its satellite partners in Asia – representing a growth of over 50% from a year ago. Overall interest in the sport is also showing signs of strong growth, with an extra 50 million viewers tuning into ESPN Star Sports’ tennis programming beyond Wimbledon.
In people-metered markets, Wimbledon attracts up to five times more affluent, senior professionals than all programs on other cable news channels. In fact, an average Wimbledon match rates at least twice that of competitive top programs on other cable channels.
The 2004 Wimbledon Championships will be held from 21 June – 4 July and will be broadcast LIVE on Star Sports.
For further information, please contact:
Stephenie Vasko, ESPN Star Sports tel: (65) 6488 6126 or email: vaskos@espnstar.com