New TV channel for S'pore sports fans

New TV channel for S'pore sports fans

Singapore sports fans can look forward to a new sports pay-TV channel next month.

For a start, the Eleven Sports Network will showcase football favourites such as the Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, the English FA Cup and the second-tier English Championship.

It is set to launch on Aug 2 with the live broadcast of the Community Shield clash between English Premier League champions Chelsea and FA Cup holders Arsenal.

The network will broadcast in Singapore, Malaysia, Belgium and Poland, with studios in each country delivering region- specific content.

Singtel TV will broadcast the channel, while talks are under way for it to be shown on StarHub as well.

The sports channel is the brainchild of Andrea Radrizzani, the founding partner of international sports media rights company MP & Silva.

The Italian, however, is unlikely to enter a bidding war when Singapore's English Premier League (EPL) rights expire next year. Singtel reportedly spent close to $400 million to wrest the exclusive broadcast rights to the EPL from StarHub in 2010.

Radrizzani said: "I don't see any way to compete for the EPL rights in Singapore at the current value, which can't justify a healthy business to anyone with the pay-TV subscribers in Singapore."

SANJAY NAIR

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 03, 2015, with the headline New TV channel for S'pore sports fans. Subscribe