ESPN STAR Sports scores with three-year deal for Spanish La Liga rights

Together with the broadcast of Barclays Premier League ESPN STAR Sports reinforces its position as the ‘Home of Football’ for fans in the Indian subcontinent and Asia.

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia’s biggest sports content provider, announced today that it has secured live and exclusive rights to broadcast the Spanish La Liga for the 2012/13 to 2014/15 seasons, on multiple distribution platforms in 18 markets across Asia. Together with the telecast of the Barclays Premier League, this means that the network will now bring over 600 odd matches from the two best known soccer leagues in the world today. This means that some of the world’s best known soccer stars like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldo will be seen along with the BPL stars like Rooney, Gerrard, Cole and Lampard on ESS networks.

The acquisition allows for exploitation in standard and high-definition television, as well as via online and mobile platforms. The deal also includes the option to showcase select games from the La Liga in 3-D. ESS will be able to broadcast the whole of La Liga providing coverage of up to 380 games across its channels in 18 countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and North Korea; as well as China & South Korea in English only.

This deal reinforces ESS’ position as Asia’s biggest sports content provider and fans can continue to look forward to a comprehensive, engaging and unique La Liga experience. ESS will provide coverage across all platforms through its broadcast channels: ESPN, STAR Sports and soon to be launched High Definition network in India, ESPN HD and the well-established mobile brand Mobile ESPN. The three-year La Liga deal bolsters ESS’ current stellar list of football properties in India, which includes the Barclays Premier League and major tournaments from the Asian Football Confederation. In addition, ESS will showcase this event on its broadband network, ESPN Player, across various markets in Asia and also plans to introduce the 3D broadcast of this exciting event.

Said ESS Asia’s Managing Director, Manu Sawhney, “This acquisition underlines our commitment to football fans in the region as we continue providing the most compelling content to our viewers, and an excellent promotional platform for our business partners. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our networks with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms, world-class match presentation and our continued focus towards original, localized football programming and innovative marketing campaigns.

“The presence of the La Liga on our networks positions us as a leader in football content in Asia, and this programming is undoubtedly a tremendous value to our affiliate partners, advertisers and viewers,” added Sawhney.

“We are delighted be working with an organisation that is world-renowned for quality sports broadcasting. We are pleased with their commitment to showcase La Liga across new media platforms in order to extend the profile of this great football league. We have every confidence that they will provide coverage for La Liga in an exciting and innovative manner," said Gerard Romy, Managing Director of Mediapro

Fans of the La Liga can look forward to improved kick-off times to suit Asian audiences on ESPN STAR Sports. La Liga is home to some of the world’s best football clubs in the world including recently crowned UEFA Champions League winner, Barcelona and their great rivals Real Madrid, last years’ Europa League winners Atlético Madrid (featuring FIFA World Cup 2010 best player of the tournament Diego Forlan) and regular Champions League participants: Valencia, Sevilla and Villareal. Many of the best football players in the world play in La Liga including: FIFA Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA World Cup winners Xavi Hernández and Andres Iniesta.

In addition, ESS produces more than 1500 hours of original football programming to supplement its live football content and expand fans’ interaction with their favorite sport beyond the live games. Popular shows include Monday Night Verdict, World of Football, Football Crazy, Goals and Football Extra in addition to the match presentation shows leading up to the live matches.