BWI: Super Soccer Star, India’s First Football Reality Show, to Air Around the 2010 FIFA World Cup on ESPN STAR Sports

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Monday, March 08, 2010 04:22 PM IST (10:52 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, Sports; Business: Business services, Media & entertainment, Sports
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Super Soccer Star, India's First Football Reality Show, to Air Around the 2010 FIFA World Cup on ESPN STAR Sports


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Monday, March 08, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- ESPN STAR Sports has tied-up with Media Star Global to produce and air 'Super Soccer Star', India's first football reality show. Media Star Global holds the India license for the Super Soccer Star property which is owned by Galleon Holdings PLC (AIM: GON), an AIM listed entertainment media company that develops and produces multi-platform properties with a focus on emerging markets.

Super Soccer Star is a multi-platform entertainment property and reality show, which aims to discover young football talent in association with the famed Chelsea Football Club. Under the terms of the deal, ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast the show around the 2010 FIFA World Cup football frenzy on Saturday and Sunday over five weekends during the tournament.

Twenty contestants aged 13-16 years old will be chosen after trials and live events across the country. They will enter an academy where over a period of weeks, four finalists will be shortlisted. The finalists come to London and are evaluated by Chelsea FC. The winner is titled the Super Soccer Star for the territory of India and wins a training programme at Chelsea's academy in Cobham.

Commenting on the agreement, Stephen Green, CEO of Galleon Holdings, said: "Super Soccer Star is a global entertainment brand and we are very proud to be working with ESPN STAR Sports and Media Star Global to discover young talent in a market the size of India."

R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, "We are delighted to partner Galleon Holdings PLC and Media Star Global for this exciting new football offering. As the leading sports broadcaster, it is our endeavour to work towards enhancing fans' experience of their favourite sports in multiple ways. Today, we broadcast more than 230 BPL matches live every season and showcase more than 1500 hours of original programming around football in India to supplement our live football content and expand fans' interaction with their favorite sport beyond the live games.

"We believe that Super Soccer Star will further extend our comprehensive football offering to our viewers and help uncover the budding football talent in India. It will certainly provide an ideal opportunity for young enthusiasts of the sport to showcase their skills on a world famous platform."

Wasim Haq, CEO of Media Star Global, added: "Super Soccer Star is India's first football reality show. It is a family-oriented program that will appeal to sports fans as well as reality TV junkies. Importantly it is a great platform for young talented footballers with prowess, personality and star quality to get noticed and train with the best! We expect the program to attract strong viewership on ESPN, especially as it will air over weekends, during the FIFA World Cup."

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) is the official broadcast partner of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and has been showcasing the Barclays Premier League for more than a decade and has elevated the sports' popularity across the Indian subcontinent.

Previously, the 2006 FIFA World Cup was watched by over 50 million people in India alone through ESPN STAR Sports' broadcast, which was a 44% increase over the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Galleon Holdings, has aired such programmes successfully in China and Malaysia and format sales have been made for many territories including Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Vietnam.

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-TV 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 over 300 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 19 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, STAR Cricket, ESPNEWS and ESPN HD.

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 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 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.


CONTACT DETAILS
Nancy Agnihotri, Asst. Manager - Corporate Communications, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, +91 9810768588, nancya@espnstar.co.in
Aparna Srivastava, IPAN Hill & Knolwton,, +91 98112 34594, asrivastava@ipanhillandknowlton.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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