ESPN STAR Sports Renews Broadcast Partnership With Cricket Australia and Acquires Cricket Rights for the Next 4 Years
ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia’s No. 1 sports broadcaster, announced today a new four- year contract for the exclusive rights to broadcast Cricket Australia’s (CA) domestic and home international matches across various platforms including television, internet, mobile and radio covering the entire Asian region.
ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast more than 170 days of live International cricket action from Australia, including 24 3 mobile Test Matches, 48 Commonwealth Bank One Day Internationals and 8 KFC Twenty20 games. In addition to this pulsating international cricket action, ESS also plans to broadcast Cricket Australia’s top-class domestic cricket, which has been critical in nurturing Australian cricket talent and future international champions, and includes popular tournaments such as the Pura Cup, Ford Ranger One Day Cup and KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
The renewal of this partnership with Cricket Australia has further strengthened ESPN STAR Sports’ position as the Number 1 broadcaster in cricket in Asia with more than 550 days of international cricket now lined up till 2012. This acquisition comes hot on the heels of ESS’s announcement of the renewal of broadcast partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the next five years, with which it has acquired exclusive rights for more than 200 days of world class International cricket from England. In addition, late last year, ESPN STAR Sports was awarded the exclusive global telecast rights by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for all ICC events from 2007 to 2015. ESS recently launched a dedicated 24x7 cricket channel, STAR Cricket, providing world class International cricket content. Today, ESPN STAR Sports has the most comprehensive International cricket offering with rights to these power packed, matchless properties under its belt.
Mr James Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Australia, said: “We are delighted to renew our partnership with ESPN STAR Sports, who over the years, has contributed significantly in the growth of the game in general and has helped further extend the popularity of Australian Cricket by continually setting new standards in cricket presentation and distribution in Asia.”
“Cricket Australia has always valued the high quality of coverage that ESPN STAR Sports brings to cricket and we are very pleased to continue our relationship with such a committed partner like ESS.”
Mr Jamie Davis, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said: “This partnership with Cricket Australia is a testament to our commitment to serve our fans and to work along with our associates. Now, with such an enviable line-up of cricket including Cricket Australia, ECB and ICC, ESS is firmly positioned as the distinct Number 1 sports broadcaster in Asia for years to come.”
Added, Mr Manu Sawhney, Executive Vice President, Programming & Marketing, ESPN STAR Sports,: “We have shared a very fruitful relationship with Cricket Australia for over a decade and are delighted to continue this partnership. Australian Cricket is extremely popular across Asia with many of the players being household names in the region and we are committed to serving the fans with more action packed cricket from down under for years to come.”
Following the ongoing India-England series, ESS will continue to have a packed cricket calendar with the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 starting from September 11th. This will be followed by India’s tour to Australia later in the year, Asia Cup and many more International series lined up over next twelve months.