MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports has launched its first ever round the clock football television channel Fox Football Channel in Malaysia, featuring more than 500 league matches from a comprehensive mix of top football leagues around the globe.

Fox Football Channel makes its debut in Malaysia through Telekom Malaysia‘s first IPTV service HyppTV Channel 173, which is available exclusively on UniFi, giving football fans a comprehensive mix of live matches, highlights and magazine shows and football news updates around the games.

ESPN Star Sports MD Peter Hutton said, "We‘re very happy to be part of the first ever sports pack on HyppTV and are delighted to launch our first Fox branded sports channel in Asia. Round the clock football content from the top international leagues is a great way to begin and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with HyppTV."

The channel will feature live Spanish La Liga BBVA matches, weekly coverage of top games from Argentina‘s Primera Divisi?n, the Eredivisie Dutch League and the Russian Premier Liga, as well as matches featuring Manchester City and Chelsea.

In addition, the channel will also feature weekly highlight shows, as well as in-depth and comprehensive coverage from official club channels Manchester City TV and Chelsea TV. Fans can also stay up-to-date with ‘Fox Football Updates‘ aired during the day with the latest football news and highlights from all over the world.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council?s (ICC) global broadcast partner ESPN Star Sports and its licensing partners will take the coverage of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2012 to more than 180 countries with live broadcast of all the 10 matches to be played at Tony Ireland Stadium, Queensland, Australia.

The broadcast coverage of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012, which will be staged from 11 to 26 August, will start with the tournament opener between defending champion Australia and arch-rival England on Saturday, 11 August, and will culminate with the final to be staged on Sunday, 26 August.

During the two-week period, fans from across the globe will be able to watch all 10 matches to be played at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville. This will include coverage of five group stage matches, two Super League quarter-finals, two Super League semi-finals and the final.

ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast the matches in Indian sub-continent including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan. In Sri Lanka, Carlton Sports will telecast the matches on terrestrial network.

Ten Sports along with PTV will telecast the matches in Pakistan and in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, the matches will be televised on BSkyB, while in Australia the event will be shown on Fox Sports.

ART Prime Sports will telecast the matches in the Middle East and North Africa. Sportscaster SuperSport will bring the event for audiences in Sub Saharan Africa and South Africa.

ESPN STAR Sports and its licensees will service cricket?s traditional heartlands in South Asia, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, and the coverage will also be seen across the continents of Africa and South America, and throughout the Middle East, USA and Canada.

Cricket fans in South America and Caribbean can catch the event on ESPN while Rogers Sportsnet is the broadcast partner in Canada.

In addition to this, ESPN STAR Sports will stream the games live on its website, www.espnstar.com in the territories that are not serviced by a television broadcaster. This ensures the tournament will have a reach of more than 180 territories, including mainland Europe.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said the scope of the worldwide broadcast coverage reflected the importance of the tournament. "The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup has become an extremely popular global event that serves both as a finishing school and a platform for showcasing the talents of our future stars."

ESS MD Peter Hutton said, "We?re absolutely delighted to be showing the next generation of cricketers to a worldwide audience as part of a remarkable year of sport on our channels, and look forward to what should be an excellent tournament."

ESPN STAR Sports has also assembled a star-studded commentary team for the tournament, including fellow ICC Cricket Hall of Fame inductees Ian Chappell of Australia and Pakistan?s Wasim Akram, as well as former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, ex-South Africa spinner Pat Symcox and former New Zealand fast bowler Danny Morrison.

Broadcast schedule:

All matches will be played at the Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville

MUMBAI: The Hockey India League, promoted by Hockey India (HI) with the backing of International Hockey Federation (FIH), is slowly gaining momentum as the organisers look to kick-off the first edition in January next year.

HI, the governing body of Hockey in India, has roped in ESPN Star Sports as the broadcast partner for HIL in a five-year deal. Besides, the broadcast rights for the league, ESS has also bagged the rights for international hockey matches played in India for a period of five years.

Earlier, business conglomerate Sahara Indian Pariwar had announced that it has taken the franchise rights for the Lucknow team. Sahara is also the shirt sponsor of the Indian men?s and women?s hockey team forking out Rs 400 million for a five-year deal that runs till 2017.

ESS has, thus, renewed its association with Hockey, a sport which it tried to reinvigorate as far back as 2005 with Premier League Hockey, which died a premature death since it could not get the right business model.

While refusing to divulge any details, HI secretary general Narinder Batra said the association along with its marketing partner Twenty First Century Media approached all major broadcasters.

It is believed that Ten Sports was also in the fray for the rights.

"We approached all key players in sports broadcasting. However, ESPN Star Sports gave us the best deal. Therefore, we decided to work with them," Batra told Indiantelevision.com.

Neo Sports, the sports broadcasting arm of Nimbus Communications, was not in fray as its parent company Nimbus is the co-promoter of World Series Hockey, a franchise-based league that has often been termed as a rebel league.

The world hockey governing body has approved the league and has given a window so that international players will be available. The league will comprise six franchise hockey teams and will feature 33 hockey matches to be played in prime time in state-of-the-art stadia across the country.

All teams will play each other on a home and away basis (30 league matches) followed by two semifinals and the final. ESS also has the global broadcast rights to telecast at least five international hockey test matches every year under Hockey India to be played in India for the next five years. The number of matches that India will play against international opposition could go up depending on the finalisation of the series schedule.

"The proposed league (HIL) will be the biggest initiative that hockey has ever seen in India. We have been working out the details for months now and I am glad to announce that things are quickly falling into place. I am confident that our partners ESPN Star Sports will help us deliver a flawless world class product," added Batra.

ESS MD Peter Hutton is believed to be instrumental in getting the deal through since he has been key follower of the game and sees huge potential in the sport.

Hutton was part of the FIH?s marketing committee, which advised the world body on ways to promote Hockey and generate revenues. Incidentally, Hutton is also believed to have been a key force in doing the deal with FIH when he was in Taj Television, which runs Ten Sports.

Ten Sports, which began its partnership with FIH in 2005, holds the broadcast rights for all FIH events in Indian subcontinent till 2014.

"Hockey is close to our heart and we will drive all our efforts to make this league a success. We are also delighted to have all international hockey test matches under Hockey India to be played in India on our networks for a five year period. I look forward to some memorable occasions and a new era for Indian hockey," said Hutton.

The developments at HIL will have implications for Indian Hockey Federation?s World Series Hockey, which held its first edition earlier this year. The eight team tournament got off to a decent start despite mounting pressure from FIH and HI, who did not want the league to take off.

IHF president RK Shetty, meanwhile, brushed aside suggestions that HIL will kill WSH. "We have nothing to worry about their (Hockey India) league, if they are doing this, it?s good for the game. It will open more opportunities for players. As far as we are concerned, we are looking forward to the second edition of World Series Hockey," Shetty asserted.

Can two leagues co-exist?

Wizcraft, the owner of WSH?s Delhi franchise, is optimistic about the league format. Says director Sabbas Joseph, "Not enough is done for hockey. If more promotions are done, it will grow the sport?s visibility and more sponsorship revenue will come in. If we see an opportunity, then we would like to take part in this league as well. More people and companies getting active in hockey will increase the excitement around the sport. I think that hockey is big enough to support two leagues."

He adds that a certain amount of rivalry between the two leagues would be healthy as long as the sport grows. The key is that the conflict between hockey India and IHF should be resolved.

However, Maxus business head Jigar Rambhia is quite certain that only one league will eventually survive. "The sport is not that big in India as this stage. To further divide it by having two leagues is not good for anybody. Next year will give us an idea as to which is the stronger of the two leagues. Two leagues also gives rise to confusion as to which league is official."

Nambiar also thinks that the success of hockey leagues in India will depend upon how India fares at the Olympic Games. "If the team does well, then advertiser interest will pick up.People do follow hockey, although this is not always reflected in the numbers," he says.

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has reached a multi-year broadcast rights agreement for coverage of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL).

In addition to India, ESS will also air SLPL in other markets like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Sri Lanka becomes the 6th cricket body with whom ESS is working on the shortest form of the game. ESS already has the rights to existing T20 leagues from Australia (Big Bash League), England (Pro T20), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Premier League), CLT20 and ICC WT20. The IPL, the most-watched and lucrative T20 format, however, is with Multi Screen Media (earlier known as Sony Entertainment Television India).

The multi-year deal includes a minimum of 24 T20 matches per season. Star Cricket, Star Sports and ESPN will broadcast all the matches from 11 August.

The first edition of the SLPL will see seven provisional teams compete for the trophy as well as a qualifier berth to the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) to be held later this year.

ESS MD Peter Hutton said, "We are delighted to be able to telecast the live matches of the SLPL in India and throughout the region. It is an excellent addition to Star Cricket?s remarkable catalogue of content in the next year, headlined by India?s home series against Pakistan, England and New Zealand, the ICC World T20, the Champions League T20 and the ICC Champions trophy. We look to further growing our live cricket content."

The SLPL will feature 42 international players participating from seven countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. However, Indian players won?t participate in SLPL following Indian cricket board?s decision not to allow its players to take part in the league.