"GAME" DEBUTS ON ESPN & STAR SPORTS
Powered by EA and ESPN STAR Sports, "Game" Brings the World of Gaming and Sports Together
For immediate release
Hong Kong - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, and ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's No.1 sports broadcaster, announced today their collaboration to bring "Game" - the first-ever gaming program produced in the region for Pan-Asian audiences. The show debuted on April 18, 2007, exclusively on STAR Sports on the Southeast Asia, Singapore, Asia and Hong Kong networks. The show will also feature on STAR Sports India and STAR Sports Taiwan networks, and will soon be launched on the ESPN network in Pacific Rim.
Incisively, objectively and energetically presented by popular STAR Sports female presenter Drinie Aguilar, the new 30-minute weekly programme showcases the latest trends in gaming. "Game" offers its audience the latest news, extensive reviews, event reports from around the world, and previews of the hottest upcoming titles.
The show will also include content that brings gaming and real-life sports closer together with segments like behind-the-scenes features, stories about top athletes and their favourite games, and exciting match-up simulations that predict the outcome of some of the world's biggest sporting events by using authentic sports games by EA SPORTS. In addition to sports titles, a variety of adrenaline-filled games from different genres and publishers will be featured on the show as well.
"We are very enthused about the launch of this new program", said Jon Niermann, President, EA Asia Publishing. "EA and ESPN are already partnering for in-game integration of ESPN broadcasting, and this pan-regional initiative in Asia Pacific will go a long way to help grow our blockbuster EA SPORTS franchises among Asian consumers and raise visibility for the brand."
"We are delighted to be able to extend our partnership with EA into new markets after our successful collaboration in the US," said Bernard Stewart, vice president and general manager, ESPN Asia Pacific. "With ESPN STAR Sports' leadership in Southeast Asia and ESPN network's presence in Australia and New Zealand, our Pan-Asian initiative is another example of our ability to add value to our partners around the world."
Charles Less, senior vice president, advertising sales (SEA), ESPN STAR Sports, said "We are thrilled to have EA on board as a presenting sponsor to collaborate on this innovative genre of sports entertainment. By leveraging our pan-regional reach, we're confident this partnership will address the needs of our client and provide them with the right avenue and platform to reach their target audience. ESS reaches out to a huge market of sports enthusiasts in Southeast Asia, and through "Game", this partnership is certain to extend our reach to more viewers for sports entertainment by leveraging on the synergy between sports and gaming. "
Fans can catch "Game" exclusively throughout seven Asia-Pacific regions on STAR Sports networks in Asia, and on ESPN in Australia and New Zealand.
Program Details
Name: GAME
Format: 30-minutes, weekly
Network/Region/Time:
Network Region Day / Time (Hong Kong Time)
STAR Sports Asia China, Korea Wednesday, 7.30pm
STAR Sports Hong Kong Hong Kong Wednesday, 7.30pm
STAR Sports India Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka Thursdays, 8.00pm / Fridays, 8.30pm *
Check local listing for India feed STAR Sports Singapore Singapore Wednesday, 7.30pmSTAR Sports SE Asia Brunei, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand Wednesday, 7.30pm
ESPN STAR Sports Taiwan Taiwan Friday, 4.30pm
For more information, please contact:
ESPN STAR Sports
Elgen Kua
Corporate Communications Manager
65-64886134
kuae@espnstar.com
Electronic Arts
Nana Takahashi
Regional PR, Electronic Arts
852-3166-6018
takahashina@ea.com
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS BIGTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2006, EA posted revenue of $2.95 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
About ESPN
ESPN, Inc. is the world's leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. The company is comprised of six U.S. television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU), ESPN and ESPN2 HD simulcast services, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN International (networks, syndication, radio, web sites), ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Enterprises, ESPN Zones (sports-themed restaurants), and other growing new businesses including ESPN360 (Broadband), Mobile ESPN, ESPN on Demand, ESPN Interactive and ESPN PPV. Based in Bristol, Ct., ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
ESPN International is a division of ESPN, Inc. ESPN International has evolved to include ownership- in whole or in part-of 32 television networks, as well as a variety of ancillary businesses, which together extend the ESPN brand to more than 190 countries and territories. ESPN International network programming is transmitted in 15 languages (Arabic, Cantonese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish). ESPN International business entities include television, radio, print, internet, wireless, consumer products, and event management.
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 276 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 14 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN China, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Hong Kong, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Southeast Asia and STAR Sports Singapore.
On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. 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.
mobileESPN enables sports fans to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever with content specially delivered via their mobile phones. mobileESPN is the first of a regional suite of services to be offered across seven markets in Asia Pacific - Airtel (India), Hutch (India), Idea (India), BSNL (India), BPL Mobile (India), CSL (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (Philippines) Maxis (Malaysia), SingTel (Singapore), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan), Telkomsel (Indonesia), StarHub (Singapore), MobileOne (Singapore), PCCW (Hong Kong), Sunday (Hong Kong) and Astro (Malaysia). Our other multi-media platforms include fully-managed wireless services ranging from SMS/MMS to WAP
About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with four business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products. Disney is a Dow 30 company, had annual revenues of over $34 billion in its most recent fiscal year, and a market capitalization of $68 billion as of Dec. 1, 2006.
Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.