Football Fans in Asia Enjoy More EPL Coverage than Fans in England

Football Fans in Asia Enjoy More EPL Coverage than Fans in England

ESPN STAR Sports Scores By Providing Most Comprehensive Football Coverage of Asia's Most Popular TV Sport

SINGAPORE, March 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- English Premier League viewers across Asia are being served more football than in England on Asia's number one sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports. From ten matches a week, a majority of them live, to a variety of different magazine and news shows it is clear that fans are getting far and above the usual football fix compared to fans in England.

The network's coverage of the English Premier League itself has scored its own goals by becoming Asia's most watched sports programming. Compared to viewers in England, sports fans here get to watch ten matches each competition week including a line-up of programming that covers predictions, highlights, news and information as well as pre- and post-game analysis. By the close of the season, sports viewers in Asia would have seen up to 380 League matches compared to the previous 165.

The network has also produced an unprecedented number of programmes dedicated to the English Premier League. For the current 2004/2005 season alone, ESPN STAR Sports has produced a total of 10 programmes covering predictions, highlights and the latest soccer information. The programming line-up includes staples Football Focus and Tiger First Edition hosted by John Dykes, and new favourites like Football Crazy, an alternative football-based show aimed at Asian youth. All programmes include content and elements that engage and involve viewer participation taking soccer entertainment to a whole new level.

ESPN STAR Sports boasts a stellar football programming schedule that also includes coverage of some of the world's most-watched soccer tournaments including the English Premier League, FA Cup, Senior and Under 21 England home matches, World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, Spanish Primera Liga and the UEFA Champion's League among others.

Said Rik Dovey, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports: "We have invested a great deal to strengthen and enhance our soccer coverage and programming. This unprecedented number of English Premier League programmes demonstrates our commitment to deliver not only the most complete but the best coverage of the League to sports fans across Asia. Together with our FA package of football rights, UEFA Champions League, Asian Football packages and Spanish Primera Liga, it has reaffirmed our position as Asia's most complete provider of sports programming. From the ratings, it is evident viewers appreciate expanded football coverage and the enjoyment we have brought to the game."

The League's 2004/2005 season is seen in 210 million homes across Asia live and exclusive on ESPN STAR SPORTS. In the last season alone, 8 out of 10 million people with cable in Asia tuned in weekly to watch the drama and excitement of the EPL. League matches on ESPN STAR Sports continue to be the top programming on cable, rating 10 times better than the best programme on all other cable channels. (Peoplemeter)

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. We are Asia's complete sports provider reaching over 110 million households for ESPN and over 54 million households for STAR Sports (as of July 2004). We have 13 networks -- ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Singapore, ESPN Hong Kong, Xing Kong Sports, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports S.E.A and STAR Sports Hong Kong. We bring the world's premier live sports and leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia, including the Asian X Games and the San Miguel Asian 9Ball Tour. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform which is closely integrated with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks, has established the sites as the number one on-line sports destination in their respective markets.

Contact:

Stephenie Vasko, ESPN STAR Sports Tel: +65-6488-6126 Email: vaskos@espnstar.com

Cheryl Sim, ESPN STAR Sports Tel: +65-6488-6134 Email: simc@espnstar.com

Web sites: http://www.espnstar.com http://www.espnstar.com.cn http://www.espnstar.com.tw

Source: ESPN STAR Sports

CONTACT: Stephenie Vasko, +65-6488-6126, or vaskos@espnstar.com, or Cheryl Sim, +65-6488-6134, or simc@espnstar.com, both of ESPN STAR Sports

------- Profile: Ent