BWI: ESPN STAR Sports Flags off FIM Motocross and SuperMoto World Championship Across Asia

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Thursday, October 22, 2009 06:40 PM IST (01:10 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, Sports; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Media & entertainment, Sports
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ESPN STAR Sports Flags off FIM Motocross and SuperMoto World Championship Across Asia
Motorsports Fans to Look Forward to a revved-up List of Exciting Motocross Action on ESPN STAR Sports

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Asia's biggest sports content provider ESPN STAR Sports announced today its three-year multi-platform partnership with Youthstream, FIM's Motocross World Championship commercial rights holder and promoter, to showcase the FIM Motocross and SuperMoto World Championship on its various platforms, across Asia, from 2009 to 2011.

The FIM Motocross World Championship is the premier worldwide motocross racing championship series, and features distinct and thrilling classes, such as the MX1 (450cc), MX2 (250cc), MX3 (650cc) and the WMX (Women's World Motocross Championship). The SuperMoto World Championship involves S1 (450cc) and S2 (more than 500cc) motocross bikes classes, which races on off-road and road track conditions.

ESPN STAR Sports will kick-off the broadcast with the highlight programmes of the FIM Motocross and the SuperMoto events in the lead up to next year's season. For the upcoming 2010 season ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast the full FIM Motocross and SuperMoto Championships live and delayed, as well as all highlight programs of both series.

Mr. Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said: "We are delighted to flag off our partnership with Youthstream and the FIM. ESPN STAR Sports is the home for motorsports fans in Asia with our stellar line-up of leading motor sports events. These two exciting championships showcased across our various platforms will further build this genre and enrich fans' experience."

Mr. Giuseppe Luongo, the President of Youthstream, said: "This is an outstanding partnership with ESPN STAR Sports as the biggest sport content provider in Asia. It is another important step to bring the FIM Motocross and SuperMoto World Championships to a truly global audience, and it is perfect for the evolution of our sport as this covers all the territories where we intend to bring the Grand Prix events in the future. This will give all the teams, riders and organizers another opportunity to find international sponsors. Youthstream is very proud to have a partner such as ESPN STAR Sports and we look forward to an exciting working relationship."

Dr. Wolfgang Srb, the FIM/CMS President, added: "This is possibly the most important TV deal in the history of Motocross and SuperMoto. With ESPN STAR Sports, we will reach new horizons and cover one of the most important and fastest growing regions in the world. Millions of fans will have the chance to watch the best off-road series in the world, the FIM Motocross and SuperMoto World Championship. I am very happy that this deal was signed; congratulations to ESPN STAR Sports and Youthstream."

ESPN STAR Sports continues to showcase the best and most exciting properties across its networks in Asia, including the Formula One till 2015, the World Rally Championships, the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series, MotoGP, Superbike World Championship, and the Le Mans Series.

ESPN STAR Sports produces the largest quantum of top-quality original in-house productions in Asia with over 3650 hours of top class original programmes televised every year including over 100 hours of original F1 and motorsport content. This includes the popular motorsport magazine show Engine Block on STAR Sports, which showcases a comprehensive coverage of worldwide motorsport news, features and loads of race highlights and footage from the world's best motor racing events.

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.


CONTACT DETAILS
Nancy Agnihotri, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, +91 9810768588, nancya@espnstar.co.in
Aparna Srivastava, IPAN Hill & Knowlton, +91 9811234594, asrivastava@ipanhillandknowlton.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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