ESPN to broadcast Chinese football league across Asia
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-18 08:35

Shanghai Media Group (SMG) struck a deal with ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) for the broadcasting rights to the 2005 China Football Association Super League (CSL) in Beijing on Friday, the first time CSL will be on live for viewers around Asia.

SMG and ESS worked together to show the China Basketball Association (CBA) in the region last year.

According to the deal, ESS, Asia's biggest sports TV network, will broadcast one match of each round, League Cup clashes and highlights of the most exciting matches from every round. Provisionally 26 league matches, seven cup games and 26 highlights shows will be broadcast in the coming year; a total of 80 hours on air.

Moreover, ESPN's news channel Sportscentre is expected to cover news reports from CSL.

SMG is optimistic about the prospect though the reputation of the CSL was severely tarnished last year by a series of calamities that led to a drastic downturn in ticket receipts, while television revenue failed to meet targets and top sponsor Siemens refused to renew its multi-million US dollar deal this season.

"SMG and ESS have made a success of the broadcasting of CBA. CSL is also one of the top leagues in Asia. I am confident, based on the partnership, we will make a contribution to the popularity of Chinese football," said Xu Wei, chief manager of Dragontv, part of SMG.

ESS representative Wang Xiaoxin, who is in charge of China marketing management, echoed Xu's remarks.

"ESS is a platform targeted at Asian viewers while China is the key market for us. CSL and CBA are the most significant leagues in China and I have confidence the leagues will benefit a lot from the broadcasts."

This move also signaled the end of SMG's marketing promotion four days after they signed agreements with Beijing TV, Guangdong TV, Tianjin TV and Sichuan TV for the right to broadcast CSL.

So far, about 30 domestic television stations have bought the television rights from SMG to broadcast the nation's premier league live.

CSL, whose opening matches were originally scheduled for March 5, was postponed after a vote last month, and will kick off on April 2.

SMG became the sole CSL broadcast promoter last year, also the inaugural year of China's Super League, and sold the television rights to 27 other channels, the first time China's league broadcasting rights were marketed.

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