ESPN Star will strengthen its approach to ad sales as part of the company's overall strategy to grow its business based on a four 'O' strategy - on air, on ground, online and off air - integrating all four assets into innovative marketing solutions for clients.

The exercise will led by Greg Hayes, who has been promoted to senior vice president, ad sales and multimedia ventures from vice president, multimedia ventures. Hayes' expanded role will see him oversee ad sales of both channels in all markets in addition to his role as head of the company's multimedia initiatives. Hayes' appointment coincides with the decision that from 1 July, responsibility for the advertising markets in Hong Kong and Singapore moves from Star ad sales to ESPN Star Sports.

Hayes will continue to oversee the extension of the ESS TV sports experience online. Under his leadership, the Multimedia Ventures division of ESS has enhanced online services, features and promotions and steadily increased traffic into the espnstar.com site to an unprecedented 27 million registered page impressions in the month of April 2002 alone, says an official release.