ESS KICKS COMPETITION INTO TOUCH: Premier League is the jewel in the crown for ESS, as Leithen Francis reports

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has triggered a massive change in Asia's television landscape by winning the exclusive regionwide rights to the English Premier League (EPL), one of the most popular sporting competitions in Asia. The win marks the first time one pay-TV channel has secured such a deal, including the free-to-air rights, for the region. Previously, negotiations for the broadcast rights of the football-fest were conducted on a market-by-market basis. As such, terrestrial broadcasters and local pay-TV operators in Asia must now broker a deal with ESS. The impact has been monumental on stations which failed to broker the deal as EPL is vital to their programme line-up. In Singapore, for example, free-to-air sports channel Sports City recently changed its name to City TV and became a general entertainment channel. Local media buyers attributed the sudden change to Sports City's loss of EPL. In Indonesia, ESS has sub-licensed the free-to-air rights to TPI rather than the incumbent SCTV; and in Malaysia, EPL has moved from RTM to TV3. Says Adam Zechar, ESS vice-president of international sales, Southeast Asia: "SCTV did have two sports channels - Football and Super Sports - but it has shut the football channel, and I reckon that's primarily because EPL is now on ESPN Star Sports. "And Astro in Malaysia is significantly reducing activity on its Super Sports service, while Hong Kong Cable has basically closed down its second sports service." Soccer fans, however, are discovering that the coverage on these stations is more limited than in previous years because free-to-air stations can only broadcast highlights. Zechar adds: "The best way to drive pay-TV penetration is to keep the matches exclusively on pay-TV but provide a little bit of programming on the terrestrials to give viewers an idea of what they're missing." "Let them enjoy a bit and then hopefully they'll subscribe." But in markets where pay-TV penetration is low, ESS will allow the local terrestrial stations to broadcast one or two games. And in Thailand, where EPL is hugely popular, ESS has stuck with the status quo - Channel 9 will continue to broadcast 17 to 18 matches each season. With EPL in the bag, ESS has mounted a drive to lure advertisers such as Nike, Slazenger, and Tiger Beer, which previously advertised on free-to-air channels to continue their association with EPL. To date, it has signed Toshiba as presenting sponsor and it is looking for one other, while Nokia and LG Electronics have bought spot packages. Programme sponsors gain branding on ESS promos and on-air billboards as well as on the website and all promotional marketing material. Sponsors can also become involved in joint promotions with ESS. Despite EPL's popularity, it's still a hard push on ad sales. As the pay-TV channel only found out in February that it had won the EPL rights, some advertisers have taken a wait-and-see attitude. The poor economic climate hasn't helped, according to ESS sales representatives. The station is also discovering that managing EPL is a massive task because it has to work more closely with its pay-TV affiliates. Ross Edwards, ESS director of sponsorships, points out that ensuring advertisers gain coverage in all the markets is complex. For example, ESS' programming is broadcast in markets such as Thailand and Vietnam, but not the ads. As a result, the station has to speak with its affiliates to ensure regional advertisers gain exposure in the EPL telecast markets. Edwards says advertisers such as Toshiba are keen to be involved because EPL offers the potential of gaining huge exposure across Asia, particularly among men.

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