ESS Renews UEFA Agreement

SINGAPORE,
November 17: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has renewed a multi-year exclusive
agreement for multiplatform rights to
the UEFA Champions League for Malaysia and Brunei, and secured English-language
pay-TV rights for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for China
for the 2009/10 and 2011/12 seasons.

In Malaysia and Brunei,
ESS will maintain exclusive pay-TV, broadband and mobile broadcast rights for
all UEFA Champions League matches, from the group stages to the final. The
agreement also provides ESS with the right to broadcast the Super Cup, the
annual match between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa
League. The deal grants ESS the rights for up to
a total of 146 games, and also includes rights for the UEFA-produced magazine shows
and for ESS to produce its own in-house highlight shows.

For China, meanwhile, ESS
inked a landmark deal for the exclusive English-language pay-TV rights for the
UEFA Champions League and for the first time, the UEFA Europa League. In total,
ESS will have the rights to broadcast more than 350 games in China for these
two leagues.

Manu Sawhney, the managing
director for ESS, commented, "We share a fruitful relationship with UEFA
and we are delighted
to continue our partnership with them. This agreement is a testament to our
commitment of building the UEFA Champions League by presenting it in the most
innovative and entertaining manner to millions of fans in China, Malaysia and
Brunei."

This new agreement adds to
the list of football properties on ESPN STAR Sports' network, which includes
coverage of the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup and Senior and Under-21
England Team home matches. ESS also produces some 1,500 hours of original
football content a year, including programs like Nokia Football Crazy, Football
Focus and Football Forecast.

—By
Kristin Brzoznowski