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NEW
DELHI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced a new five year
contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for
exclusive broadcast rights for television (inclusive of mobile
TV), internet and radio.
Apart
from covering ECB's domestic and home international matches
in the core cricket markets of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh, the contract also provides rights throughout
the Middle East, China, Japan and the rest of Asia.
ESS,
which had an earlier contract with ECB, says the rights will
give them more than 200 days of live international cricket
action. This will include 34 test matches, 54 ODIs and nine
Twenty20 games.
Over
the next five years, all the test playing nations will be
competing in England, with the Indian team slated to visit
in 2011. Company officials are expecting to achieve an affiliate
sales growth higher than what they had targeted just a few
months ago.
In
addition, ESS will broadcast ECB's top class domestic cricket,
including the Twenty20 Cup, Provident Trophy, England Lions
matches and Pro40 series featuring world class players from
around the globe.
Late
last year, ESPN Star Sports was awarded the exclusive global
telecast rights from the International Cricket Council (ICC)
for all of their events from 2007 to 2015. The broadcaster
recently launched a dedicated 24x7 cricket channel, Star Cricket,
providing International cricket content.
ECB chairman David Morgan said, "The ECB is delighted
to renew its partnership with ESPN Star Sports, who has helped
further extend the reach of the game by continually setting
new standards in cricket presentation and distribution."
ESPN
Star Sports managing director Jamie Davis said, "This
acquisition reaffirms our commitment to the cricket fan. We
are Asia's leading sports broadcaster and this partnership
with the ECB along with recent acquisitions like the ICC's
global broadcast and production rights firmly positions ESS
as the number one choice for sports fans in Asia for years
to come."
ESS
EVP programming and marketing Manu Sawhney said, "We
are delighted to further extend our decade long relationship
with ECB for another five years and will continue to provide
the best International cricket action to fans across Asia."
ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. MD RC Venkateish said, "This
is a very significant acquisition, specially considering that
India-England cricket matches have always generated huge interest
in the Indian subcontinent.
Venkateish
said also that in addition to the 200 days of live international
cricket action, ESS has also acquired the rights for domestic
cricket events from ECB.
Following
the ongoing India-England series, ESS will continue to have
a packed cricket calendar with the inaugural ICC World Twenty20
starting from 11 September.
ESPN
Star Sports and its affiliates have already secured global
coverage for the inaugural edition of the tournament with
over 110 countries slated to showcase the tournament spanning
North America, Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand,
Greece, Cyprus and Mauritius.
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.
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