The FA Scores Asian Broadcast Deals

LONDON, November 9: The FA has inked Asian broadcast deals
for the FA Cup and England matches for the 2008-2012 period with ESPN Star
Sports, M-League and IMG.

The majority of the rights went to current partner ESPN Star
Sports. Under the agreement, ESPN STAR Sports will maintain exclusive broadcast
rights for all FA Cup matches, The FA Community Shield and all Senior and
Under-21 England Team home matches, including the FIFA World Cup and UEFA
European Championship qualifiers played at home and all friendly matches. These
matches will be broadcast to 20 markets across Asia, including China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. For the first
time, ESPN STAR Sports will also have exclusive rights to present the
content on its digital media platforms, which include www.espnstar.com,
www.espnstar.com.cn, www.espnstar.com.tw, mobileESPN and the soon-to-be
launched STAR Sports Mobile.

Meanwhile, IMG has acquired rights for Japan and the Indian
sub-continent, and M-League acquired all broadcast rights for Thailand.

The Asia partnerships together represent the largest
regional market in The FA’s new range of deals for its international broadcast
rights, the total of which is over $300 million, a 275-percent increase on the
current four-year $80 million deals.

—By Mansha Daswani