ESPN Star Sports

ESPN STAR Sports
Type	Television Network
Branding	ESPN STAR
Country	Singapore
First air date	1 January 1994
Availability	Asia
Founded	1 January 1994
Headquarters	Singapore
Owner	ESPN International; News Corporation; (STAR TV and Fox International Channels Asia)
Key people	Carl Johnson, Manu Sawhney
Launch date	1 January 1994
Official website	Official website

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ESPN STAR Sports (or ESS and stylized as ESPN STAR Sports) is a joint venture between ESPN Inc. (through ESPN International, which it directly owns) and News Corporation (through STAR TV and Fox International Channels, which it directly owns). The venture has its base in Singapore and operates 17 ESPN and STAR Sports branded networks throughout Asia, transmitting in 5 languages (English, Cantonese, Hindi, Korean and Mandarin). The networks broadcast various local and international sporting events, and also local editions of SportsCenter for China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. ESPN Star Sports also operates a 24-hour Cricket channel, STAR Cricket. STAR Sports launched STAR Sports Thailand on Monday August 4, 2008 exclusively for Thai viewers. ESPN STAR Sports is currently in the process of down-linking of their new channel: "ESPNews India" to India and planned will be launched on middle of 2012.

ESPN STAR Sports also has Asia's leading Events Management team that has been successfully staging large-scale sporting events across Asia. The Event Management team is a completely integrated events group that manages concept creation, sponsorship, marketing, PR, TV broadcast, operations, and logistics for clients. Events currently in their portfolio include the X Games Asia, 9 Ball Tour, KL World 5's Futsal, Cartier Polo, Formula Drift Singapore, Nations Cup Netball, Indian Hockey League, and the World Pool Championship. In 2012, ESPN STAR Sports will be broadcasting 2012 Summer Olympics.

[edit] History

One of the biggest successes for the Event Management team was the creation of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) in India. PHL is a professional league competition for field Hockey clubs in the top division of the Indian hockey system, though there has always been strong foreign representation among the players. PHL is a joint venture between ESPN Star Sports and the erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) but with the suspension of the IHF on April 28, 2008, the future of PHL remains uncertain. ESPN Star Sports was launched the same day with Disney Channel Asia.

ESPN STAR was also famed for their being Asia's largest broadcaster of the English FA Premier League, during the 2000s, with commentators like John Dykes and a host of former Premier league players as guests and pundits on the shows.^[1]

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) via its STAR Cricket channel was the official broadcaster of the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final experienced all-time high viewership (67.6 million only on Cable and satellite) and TRPs, and had raised ad rates for 10 second slots during the finals to 24 lakh (US$52,800), prior to the finals.^[2]^[3]^[4]

[edit] Local beams/feeds

Screenshot from ESPN Asia with the new Station ID

Screenshot from ESPN Philippines with the new Station ID

ESPN Asia
ESPN India
ESPN Pakistan
ESPN Indonesia
ESPN Hong Kong
ESPN China
ESPN Malaysia
ESPN Philippines
ESPN Singapore
ESPN Taiwan
SBS ESPN South Korea
STAR Sports Asia
STAR Sports India
STAR Sports Indonesia
STAR Sports Hong Kong

Logo of ESPN STAR Sports from January 1, 2000 till 2007

STAR Sports China
STAR Sports Malaysia
STAR Sports Singapore
STAR Sports Southeast Asia
STAR Sports Taiwan
STAR Sports Thailand
STAR Cricket
STAR Cricket HD
ESPNews Asia
ESPNews India (Coming Soon)
ESPN HD Asia
ESPN HD Taiwan
ESPN HD India

[edit] Programs broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports

It is important to note that broadcast rights for various sports properties contain territorial limitations and in a lot of instances, the rights indicated below may not pertain to all territories in which ESPN STAR Sports operates.