London – Octagon the global sports and event marketing group announced today that, as part of a consortium, it has been awarded the overseas rights to the Football Association Premier League for a three year period starting with the 2001/2002 season. Octagon’s partners are Newscorp, who will distribute the rights in Asia, Australasia and North America, and Sport+, a division of the Vivendi Universal, who will distribute the rights in Europe.

Octagon’s television production and distribution arm, Octagon CSI, will distribute the rights in the Middle East, Israel, Africa and South and Central America. The partnership will sub-contract production and technical services to TWI. Octagon CSI is regarded as a pioneer in the distribution of overseas rights of major football properties having represented the Premier League (and formerly the First Division) for ten years until 1998, as well as the Italian Serie A and the Spanish Primera Liga Championships.

Frank Lowe, Chairman and Chief Executive of Octagon Worldwide, said: ‘We are very pleased once again to be representing the overseas television rights of the FA Premier League and we are delighted to have teamed up with Newscorp and Sport+. We believe our partnership will enable the Premier League to maximise their international audience and revenues.’

Octagon CSI is already very involved in football through its representation of the overseas rights of the English Football Association as well as the Federations of Germany, Denmark and Australia. Octagon CSI has an unparalleled reputation in the world of television. It is the leading distributor of international rugby and cricket television rights through its relationships with the Rugby Unions of Argentina, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales, as well as the Cricket Boards of Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

As the sports and event marketing division of The Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing communications groups, Octagon offers clients marketing-led expertise across the eight major disciplines that make up the sports and entertainment market: athlete representation, event management, consultancy, property representation, TV rights sales and distribution, TV production and archive, rights ownership, and licensing and merchandising. Only three years from its launch, Octagon employs over 1,500 people in 21 countries on all major continents.

For further information please contact;

Tim Moufarrige
Octagon
Tel +44 (0)20 7881 8888
eamil: tim.moufarrige@octagon.com