ESS Secures New Broadcast Deals for Inaugural Cricket Tournament

SINGAPORE, September 6: ESPN Star Sports has secured
broadcast deals in the U.K. and Ireland with BSkyB
and Independent Music Group for the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20
cricket tournament in September.

BSkyB has acquired the exclusive
English-language television broadcast rights, and the mobile and Internet
rights for all languages, to the tournament in the U.K. and Ireland. Meanwhile,
Independent Music Group has picked up the exclusive television broadcast rights
for all languages other than English.

ESPN STAR Sports, along with its affiliate EML, has already
secured global coverage for the tournament, with over 110 countries slated to
air the inaugural edition of ICC World Twenty20, spanning North America,
Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Cyprus,
Mauritius, South Asia, North Asia—including China for the first
time—and the Indian subcontinent. Scheduled to take this month in South
Africa, the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 will be the first event to be
broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports as a part of its eight-year agreement with the
ICC.

ESPN STAR Sports recently renewed its partnership with
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) and acquired
exclusive rights to broadcast their domestic and home international matches for
the entire Asian region. In addition, late last year, ESPN STAR Sports’
affiliate, EML, was awarded the global telecast rights from the International
Cricket Council (ICC) for all of their events from 2007 to 2015 and recently
launched a dedicated 24/7 cricket channel, STAR Cricket.

Manu Sawhney, the executive VP of programming and marketing
at ESPN STAR Sports, commented: “We are very pleased to have BSkyB Limited and
Independent Music Group Limited as our partners in U.K. and Ireland. With their
quality coverage and presentation, the fans can look forward to witnessing the
inaugural ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007 action in all its glory. And
with these partnerships, we are confident of setting new benchmarks in
distribution which will pave the way for a record number of fans to witness
this exciting format of cricket through multiple platforms in these countries.”