X Games VIII, the world’s premier action sports event, will receive the largest worldwide television distribution of any previous X Games event, it was announced today by Mark Reilly, vice president and general manager, Global X Games.

The free-to-the-public action sports competition scheduled for August 15-19 in Philadelphia will be featured extensively in the United States on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which for the first time will present a prime-time X Games telecast, on Sunday, August 18 from 7-9 p.m. ET, part of 20 hours of original coverage on the three networks.

ESPN International, which owns or operates 25 television networks outside of the United States, will televise X Games VIII to more than 113 million households in over 140 countries and territories early next month. In addition, ESPN has syndication agreements with terrestrial broadcasters in Brazil (Globo), Great Britain (BBC, C5), Japan (NHK, FUJI-TV) and Spain (TV 3). Eurosport, the most-widely distributed channel in Europe, serving more than 54 countries and 90 million households, will also televise X Games VIII in September.

ESPN International’s distribution efforts, coupled with the extensive coverage that will be provided in the United States on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2,means X Games VIII will be televised to more than 300 million households in over 200 countries worldwide. Supplemental news highlights and sports anthology programs will take these figures even higher.

‘The X Games has become an international phenomenon,’ said Reilly. ‘It’s a tribute to the X Games franchise and to the millions of action sports fans around the world that we can make it available to more television viewers than ever before.’

ESPN’s X Games franchise currently includes events in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to the Winter X Games and X Games, which are held in the U.S., ESPN stages annual international X Games competitions in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including a six-stop Asian Xtour. In 2003, ESPN will debut the X Games Global Championship, an event which will feature six teams representing different regions of the world– U.S., Europe, Canada, South America, Asia and Australia-with the goal of crowning an one of them the X Games Champion.

Viewers outside of the U.S. should check their local listings for specific dates and times for X Games telecasts.

For further information please contact:

ESPN
Christopher Bellitti
T: +1 212 916 9889
E: chris.bellitti@espn.com