Nine & FOX Sports team up

FOX Sports and the Nine Network have jointly secured the rights to broadcast all International Cricket Council events until 2011.

Nine and FOX will broadcast all ICC-sanctioned events, including the 2011 World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 2008 and 2010.

Nine boss David Gyngell last night said, “We are genuinely delighted to have formed this partnership with FOX Sports which underscores the long-term commitment we have to investing in first-class content.

“Nine is committed to bringing Australian audiences the best free television coverage from the cricket championships as part of our ongoing support of the official Australian Cricket team events.”

Nine will also screen the Rugby League Centenary Test Match between Australia and New Zealand on May 9 from the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Press Release:
The Nine Network and FOX SPORTS are pleased to announce an agreement with the ESPN STAR Sports (“ESS”) to provide live television coverage of ICC cricket events from 2008 through to 2011.

The ICC rights deal encompasses key international events including; the 2008 and 2010 ICC Champions Trophy tournaments, the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and the ICC Cricket World Cup scheduled in the sub continent in 2011. ESPN STAR Sports through its affiliate, EML, holds the exclusive global telecast rights from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for all of their events from 2007 to 2015.

Nine Network Chief Executive Officer, David Gyngell, said: “We are genuinely delighted to have formed this partnership with Fox Sports which underscores the long term commitment we have to investing in first-class content.

“Nine is committed to bringing Australian audiences the best free television coverage from the cricket championships as part of our ongoing support of the official Australian Cricket team events.”

David Malone, CEO of FOX SPORTS said: “We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with ESS and the ICC in partnership with the Nine Network. In securing the joint rights to ICC events we are demonstrating our ongoing commitment to delivering viewers coverage of the Australian cricket team overseas.”

“FOX SPORTS is pleased to be able to provide subscribers live coverage of every match played as part of upcoming ICC events.”

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director of ESPN STAR Sports, said “We are very pleased to extend our relationship with FOX SPORTS and Nine Network. Australian cricket fans can now look forward to catching the action from all major ICC Events for the next four years on either a pay TV platform through FOX SPORTS or through terrestrial television through Nine.”

Under the agreement with the ESS, the Nine Network and FOX SPORTS will broadcast coverage from the ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 while FOX SPORTS will broadcast all matches from the ICC Champions Trophy tournaments in 2008 and 2010.

About FOX SPORTS

FOX SPORTS is Australia’s leading sports broadcaster, screening an average of around 20 hours of LIVE sport per day into more than 2 million homes around Australia with over six million potential viewers through FOXTEL, AUSTAR and OPTUS TV. FOX SPORTS is also available in 3600 pubs and clubs as well as 190,000 hotel rooms throughout Australia. FOX SPORTS currently has broadcast rights for the AFL, NRL, A-League, Socceroos matches, Super 14, Wallaby tests, domestic and international cricket, netball’s ANZ Championship, all four Golf Majors, all four Tennis Grand Slams, NBA basketball and motorsport.

About Nine Network Australia
The Nine Network is one of Australia’s top-rating commercial television networks. Its backbone is the three television stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, along with the newly acquired regional broadcaster, NBN Television, and agreements with other regional operators.
The Nine Network’s strength and consistency comes from its extensive news and current affairs coverage, rights to broadcast popular sporting events and its slate of entertainment and lifestyle programs.
The Nine Network continues to set benchmarks in news and sports coverage with multi award-winning shows including 60 Minutes, Today, Sunday, A Current Affair and Wide World of Sports.

Originally established in 1956 as Nine Network, it was separately listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as Network Nine Australia Limited from 1990 until 1994.
In 1994 Publishing and Broadcasting Limited was created through the merger of Nine and the then separately listed ACP Magazines.
The Nine Network is now 100% owned by PBL Media, a joint venture between CVC Asia Pacific Limited and Consolidated Media Holdings, which holds the media assets of the recently split Publishing and Broadcasting Limited business.

About ESPN STAR Sports
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia’s definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies – Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) – to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services.

ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports Southeast Asia, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket.

On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile is a lifestyle product that gives fans a “feel-good experience”; delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports programmes covering opinions, how-tos, gossip and latest game reviews.

Source: news.com.au