BWI: ESPN STAR Sports Flags off 2009 F1 Season

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Friday, March 27, 2009 05:17 PM IST (11:47 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, Sports; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Information technology, Media & entertainment, Sports, Telecommunications; Technology
Release no: 19564
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ESPN STAR Sports Flags off 2009 F1 Season
F1 Coverage Includes Extensive Multi-Media Coverage on www.espnstar.com, mobileESPN and Features New F1 Fantasy Game

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Friday, March 27, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Catch the world's most exciting motorsport World Championship with ESPN STAR Sports, as Asia's No. 1 sports content provider delivers extensive coverage of the 2009 Formula One season across its television, online and mobile platforms starting with this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

This year marks the 18th year the F1 is broadcasted on ESPN STAR Sports networks after the renewal of its deal last year with Formula One Management. Its television broadcast will showcase the 2009 F1 season across 23 Asian markets and ESPN STAR Sports will provide expansive online and mobile coverage on www.espnstar.com and mobileESPN respectively, and introduce a new F1 Fantasy online game. The coverage highlights include:

-- World-class television coverage: ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast an average of more than 310 hours of F1 content, including live event television broadcast of all 17 live qualifying sessions and main races such as the debut of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the final race in the F1 calendar. The comprehensive coverage includes the popular pre and post-race sports presentation, Race Day and Chequered Flag hosted by Paula Malai Ali and Steve Dawson respectively with former F1 driver Alex Yoong. Yoong joins STAR Sports' F1 coverage this season to provide viewers with in-depth analysis and will team up with veteran race commentator Steve Slater in the commentary booth to deliver an exciting one-two punch that matches the thrilling live action on television

-- Live and authoritative online coverage on www.espnstar.com: Includes a lap-by-lap live race coverage on its Live Race Centre; online video content that features highlights from the qualifying races and main race as well as race analysis and previews, track circuit and driver profiles and classic F1 moments on its video player; expert and authoritative views on the sports' big issues by race commentators Steve Slater and Alex Yoong as well as the latest news and updates

-- F1 Fantasy Online Game: www.espnstar.com's Fantasy F1 Game flags off this weekend and will run throughout the 2009 F1 season. Participants become team managers who create their own Fantasy F1 team from a budget of $80 million and score points based on the performance of their three drivers, one engine, one constructor and a bonus circuit where the entrant will receive double points in the 2009 season. Points will be scored for all qualifying days and main races throughout the season starting with the Australian Grand Prix qualifying race on 28th March

-- Get F1 mobile content on the go from mobileESPN: More than 406 million potential mobile subscribers across Asia can get their F1 fix whenever and wherever they are in the form of headline news, results, driver standings, team standings and the F1 race calendar in English, Chinese and Bahasa Malay

More than 56.4 million* in-home pay TV viewers watched STAR Sports' coverage of the sport last year. STAR Sports' F1 broadcasts continued to expand interest levels in the sport - up to 36% of all F1 viewers in key metered markets* tuned in to watch F1-related content outside the qualifying and championship races. This comprised pre and post-race shows Race Day and Chequered Flag as well as F1 race highlight shows.

To view the ESPN Schedule, please click on the link given below:

Catch all the action LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on STAR Sports

About ESPN STAR Sports

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies - Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) - to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services.

ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN SEA, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN SEA 2, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports SEA, STAR Sports SEA 2, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket.

On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile aims to provide interactive and entertaining opportunities to engage with sports, delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports original programmes covering opinions, instructional tips and the latest online game reviews.
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Catch all the action LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on STAR Sports.doc


CONTACT DETAILS
Nancy Agnihotri, Asst. Manager - Corporate Communications, ESPN STAR Sports, +91 9810768588, nancya@espnstar.co.in
Subhashish Bharuka, IPAN, +91 9810122833, subhashish.bharuka@ipan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, MEDIA, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY

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