ESPN Star Sports Signs Major League Baseball Rights
ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) today announced the successful conclusion of a two-year agreement for exclusive cable and direct to home satellite post-season broadcast rights to the world’s most popular baseball league, Major League Baseball.
Says ESS Managing Director, Rik Dovey, 'This renewal with Major League Baseball reinforces our position of strength as Asia’s most complete sports provider to Asian sports viewers.' He added, 'Not only do rights holders know we can make their events available to the largest possible audience throughout Asia, they also have confidence that we can grow their events and develop their audiences across Asia.'
The renewal for exclusive cable and satellite rights covers ESS’s Asian footprint including China* and will include the All-Star Game, the Division Series, the American League and National League Championship Series and the World Series for 2001 and 2002. ESS rights will be non-exclusive for Korea and Taiwan.
This deal will also introduce an additional game to the roster of weekly games, bringing the total number of regular season games per week to three.
'Providing such a strong line up of baseball programming in particular all the major highlights of the season is key for the network, especially as viewers across Asia have come to rely on us to fulfil their appetite for Major League Baseball action', said Mr. Dovey.
'Major League Baseball is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world and the recent success of Asian-born players in Major League Baseball has only accelerated that growth in the Pacific Rim,' said Paul Archey, Vice President, International Business. 'This new agreement with ESPN STAR Sports is a crucial step in our continuing effort to provide fans throughout Asia with complete, comprehensive coverage of Major League Baseball.'
The agreement represents the continuation of a successful partnership between ESS and MLB that has been in place since 1996 and has seen trends in viewing increase in most of ESS’s people-metered markets.
Baseball, and in particular Major League Baseball, is growing in popularity among Asian audiences. During the last MLB season alone, more than 27 million viewers across Asia watched the games on ESS’s network.
This reflects an upward trend in Major League Baseball’s appeal in Asia, attributed in part to the growing number of Asian players showcasing their talent in the National and American Leagues. There are currently 11 Asian players making their mark in Major League Baseball, including Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Seattle Mariners and Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
MLB programming will be aired on three of the ESPN Networks: ESPN Asia, ESPN Philippines and ESPN Taiwan. In total, these three networks will deliver more than 1160 hours of the best Major League Baseball coverage available on television throughout Asia
* non-exclusive only against China Educational TV (CETV)
For further information, please contact:
Stephenie David-Vasko
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: (65)-4886126
davids@espnstar.com
Kathleen Fineout
Major League Baseball
Tel: +1 212 931-7882
kathleen.fineout@mlb.com
Says ESS Managing Director, Rik Dovey, 'This renewal with Major League Baseball reinforces our position of strength as Asia’s most complete sports provider to Asian sports viewers.' He added, 'Not only do rights holders know we can make their events available to the largest possible audience throughout Asia, they also have confidence that we can grow their events and develop their audiences across Asia.'
The renewal for exclusive cable and satellite rights covers ESS’s Asian footprint including China* and will include the All-Star Game, the Division Series, the American League and National League Championship Series and the World Series for 2001 and 2002. ESS rights will be non-exclusive for Korea and Taiwan.
This deal will also introduce an additional game to the roster of weekly games, bringing the total number of regular season games per week to three.
'Providing such a strong line up of baseball programming in particular all the major highlights of the season is key for the network, especially as viewers across Asia have come to rely on us to fulfil their appetite for Major League Baseball action', said Mr. Dovey.
'Major League Baseball is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world and the recent success of Asian-born players in Major League Baseball has only accelerated that growth in the Pacific Rim,' said Paul Archey, Vice President, International Business. 'This new agreement with ESPN STAR Sports is a crucial step in our continuing effort to provide fans throughout Asia with complete, comprehensive coverage of Major League Baseball.'
The agreement represents the continuation of a successful partnership between ESS and MLB that has been in place since 1996 and has seen trends in viewing increase in most of ESS’s people-metered markets.
Baseball, and in particular Major League Baseball, is growing in popularity among Asian audiences. During the last MLB season alone, more than 27 million viewers across Asia watched the games on ESS’s network.
This reflects an upward trend in Major League Baseball’s appeal in Asia, attributed in part to the growing number of Asian players showcasing their talent in the National and American Leagues. There are currently 11 Asian players making their mark in Major League Baseball, including Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Seattle Mariners and Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
MLB programming will be aired on three of the ESPN Networks: ESPN Asia, ESPN Philippines and ESPN Taiwan. In total, these three networks will deliver more than 1160 hours of the best Major League Baseball coverage available on television throughout Asia
* non-exclusive only against China Educational TV (CETV)
For further information, please contact:
Stephenie David-Vasko
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: (65)-4886126
davids@espnstar.com
Kathleen Fineout
Major League Baseball
Tel: +1 212 931-7882
kathleen.fineout@mlb.com