Star Sports
| Country | India Hong Kong Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Taiwan Mainland China South Korea |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hong Kong Malaysia Singapore Taiwan |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific (Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International) |
Star Sports (formerly Prime Sports and Fox Sports 2) is a Southeast Asian pay television network broadcasting on Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, currently operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. It also oversees Star Sports operations in India, Taiwan and the Mainland China and South Korea versions.
Originally launched in early 1990s as Prime Sports by Star TV, later Star and ESPN International both have agreed to combine their operations in Asia in October 1996 forming ESPN Star Sports. News Corporation took the full control of the venture in 2012, and relaunched the channel as Fox Sports 2 in August 2014. On March 20, 2019 After Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox Fox Sports 2 reverted back to Star Sports.
History
Early years
Star Sports was originally launched as Prime Sports on 21 August 1991. Star TV, based in Hong Kong, operated the channel in partnership with TCI in the United States, which owned Prime-branded regional sports channels there. The channel was broadcast across the continent of Asia, reaching from the Far East to the Middle East, as with AsiaSat 1's footprint. Star TV have since regionalised the channel.
Operations combined as ESPN Star Sports
ESPN and Star Sports were competing each other across Asia,[1] but their businesses were making loss. In October 1996, both channels have agreed to combine their operations in the region.[2] The resulting joint venture, later named ESPN Star Sports, was to be headquartered in Singapore (where ESPN's operations in Asia was based in).[3]
On 16 January 1998, a version of Fox Sports was launched in the Middle East, as carried by Star Select.[4] This apparently replaced Star Sports in the region.
Relaunch as Fox Sports and Return of Star Sports
On 6 June 2012, it was announced that News Corporation would buy ESPN International's share in ESPN Star Sports.[5][6] Later, Star India took over ESPN Star Sports' businesses in India,[7] and relaunched all of its sports channels under the Star Sports brand on 6 November 2013.[8][9]
On 15 August 2014, Star Sports was rebranded as Fox Sports 2. The corresponding HD and SD versions of all three channels were also launched.[10][11]
The relaunch of ESPN Star Sports as Fox Sports did not affect much of East Asia, as a version of Star Sports broadcast to Mainland China and South Korea kept the brand, and instead, the version of ESPN for Mainland China was renamed as Star Sports 2 on 1 January 2014.
Following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox which included Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, Fox Sports 2 was relaunched back to Star Sports using the 2013 logo that used before the Fox Sports 2 relaunch.
Regions
The individual regional variations of Star Sports channels include:
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Malaysia and Brunei
- Taiwan
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Vietnam
In addition to regions above, Star Sports' regional headquarters in Hong Kong also oversees Star Sports channels in India, which is transmitted by Star India and produced from the studios in India. It also oversees the broadcast operations in Mainland China and South Korea, and Star Sports 2 (formerly known as ESPN until 31 December 2014) broadcast to Mainland China.
Programming
Broadcast rights for various sports properties contain territorial limitations and in a lot of instances, the rights indicated below may not pertain to all Asian territories in which Star Sports operates.
Baseball
- Major League Baseball:
- Select spring training and regular season games (home games only and select road games)
- MLB All-Star Game (MLB International feed)
- World Series (MLB International feed)
Basketball
Cricket
Football
- AFC Cup
- AFC Champions League
- AFC Asian Cup
- AFC Women's Asian Cup
- Serie A (from 2nd half matchday (matchday 20) of 2018–19 season, only for Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore)[12][13]
Golf
Mixed Martial Arts
Motorsports
Tennis
See also
References
- ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (4 March 1996). "Broadcasters Bet on Sports As First Step in New Markets". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
- ^ "Rival sport channels ESPN, Star TV team up together". Advertising Age. 9 October 1996. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
- ^ Sullivan, Maureen (15 January 1997). "Asian TV team christens venture ESPN Star Sports". Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
- ^ "FOX Sports Changes Name" (Press release). Star TV. Archived from the original on 8 May 1999. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ Szalai, Georg (6 June 2012). "News Corp. to Buy Out ESPN's Stake in Asian TV Venture". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Steel, Emily (7 June 2012). "News Corp to take over ESPN Star Sports". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "ESPN STAR Sports to be under STAR in India". Business Standard. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "Star Sports: A new logo, packaging & brand identity". Indian Television. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
- ^ "Star junks ESPN brand, launches Star Sports with 6 channels and website". MxM. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
- ^ Christensen, Nic (4 July 2014). "Fox to reorganises its sports channels". Mumbrella Asia. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Valisno, Jeffrey O. (26 August 2014). "Fox completes rebranding of sports channels". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Astro (16 January 2019). "Serie A is back on Astro and Astro GO! Tune into these upcoming matches on Fox Sports. Get your Astro Sports Pack today". Twitter. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help)[non-primary source needed] - ^ "FOX SPORTS ASIA – THE NEW HOME OF SERIE A TIM IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA | News | Lega Serie A". Serie A. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
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