The Web Sri Lanka In Focus

Tuesday 22 July 2008

ESPN Star lands rights to Olympics

ESPN Star Sports has acquired exclusive cable, satellite, IPTV and mobile TV rights in 22 countries in Southeast Asia, including India, to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Deal gives the Disney-News Corp. joint venture 200 hours of coverage for the London Games and more than 60 hours for Vancouver.

"This is the first time that IOC has awarded the rights to a pay TV platform across the region, and it is a testament to our commitment to reaching out to a wide audience base across Asia with the most interesting and compelling programming," said ESS managing director Manu Sawhney.

The 22 territories covered by the deal are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau (English-language rights only), Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia (English-language rights only), Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The company recently landed exclusive TV rights for the Indian subcontinent to soccer events including the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2009 Confederations Cup.

Source: variety