BWI: ESPN STAR Sports Builds Popularity of ICC World Twenty20 in Europe

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Friday, April 23, 2010 01:50 PM IST (08:20 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Sports; Business: Business services, Media & entertainment, Sports
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ESPN STAR Sports Builds Popularity of ICC World Twenty20 in Europe
Collaboration with Eurosport Group and ICC Aims to Raise Event's Profile with Launch of "What is Cricket" Campaign and Television Broadcast in 15 European Languages

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Friday, April 23, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's No. 1 sports broadcaster and International Cricket Council's global distribution and broadcast partner, announced the renewal of its partnership with Eurosport Group for the ICC World Twenty20 2010 and the launch of the "What is Cricket" educational campaign to continue building the event's growing popularity in Europe.

ESPN STAR Sports' "What is Cricket" aims to build on last year's efforts to bring the marquee Twenty20 international cricket closer to fans in Europe with 5-min promotional clips that introduces key elements of the sport and what makes the ICC World Twenty20 so exciting to watch to new fans and viewers. The campaign will be telecast across 56 territories across Eurosport Group's broadcast footprint.

ESPN STAR Sports and Eurosport Group have also collaborated to increase the number of languages the event is broadcast in to 15, including Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Swedish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian and Turkish. Eurosport Group will broadcast 23 matches, including 14 live games, from the ICC World Twenty20 held on 30 April to 16 May. All games will also be available live and on-demand on Eurosport Player, Eurosport's online pay-TV service.

ESPN STAR Sports' Managing Director Manu Sawhney said: "We're very pleased to continue our partnership with Eurosport Group to showcase the ICC World Twenty20 event across continental Europe. This event enjoys a strong following across the region and we're committed to build on that popularity further with the 'What is Cricket?' campaign together with the ICC and Eurosport Group.

"This unique educational campaign builds on the ICC World Twenty20's growing appeal after last year's efforts to localize the event, and will go a long way in taking the game to new heights in the continent and bringing in new audiences for the future."

Mr Haroon Lorgat, ICC Chief Executive Officer, said: "This is encouraging news in the lead up to the ICC World Twenty20. We are very pleased to have such a committed partner in ESPN STAR Sports and are heartened with their innovative efforts to extend the reach of the event across Europe. The educational campaign will certainly heighten the profile of the sport in Europe and we are pleased that viewers across the continent will be so well served by this multi-language coverage of the event with EuroSport."

Said Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Chairman and CEO, Eurosport Group: "We're delighted with the partnership between ESPN STAR Sports and the ICC. We're looking forward to delivering the ICC World Twenty20 in best way possible to our fans in Europe so they can enjoy the event in all its glory. This is one of the year's biggest cricket event and we're confident that this new educational campaign, combined with broadcasting the event in more languages, will raise the bar in terms of reaching more fans."

ESPN STAR Sports' commitment to broaden the popularity of the sport has also ensured that the year's biggest cricket spectacle will be televised in many new and emerging markets around the globe, in addition to traditional cricketing nations; having secured multi-year and multi-platform distribution deals with leading broadcast and telecommunication media organizations for the ICC World Twenty20 across 179 territories.

Furthermore, ESPN STAR Sports will showcase the event with its world-class production and presentation package, having lined-up many engaging and entertaining production initiatives, including a specialist commentary team for all the matches featuring international cricketing legends and experts from top cricket-playing nations.

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.

To view the photographs, please click on the links given below:

Manu Sawhney (ESS Managing Director)

Logo ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010


CONTACT DETAILS
Sameer Bajaj, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd., +91 9811222700, sameerb@espnstar.co.in
Aparna Srivastava, IPAN Hill & Knowlton, +91 99811234594, asrivastava@ipanhillandknowlton.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, SPORTS, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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