ESPN STAR Sports scores winner with FA English football rights

New Delhi - ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia's biggest sports content provider, has delighted football fans once again by securing exclusive broadcast rights for all Football Association (FA) Cup matches, The FA Community Shield and all Senior and Under-21 England Team home matches for the next six years until 2018 for the South Asia Region including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal.

The multimedia platform deal, which allows the content to be made available across television, internet and mobile, was made with international media rights company MP & Silva.

Starting from 3rd November, ESS will begin broadcast of the first round of matches all the way up to the Final in May next year.

Chelsea are currently the holders of the FA Cup but are likely to be challenged for the prestigious title by the other Premier League teams including Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City, among others.

This latest agreement further strengthens ESS' network as truly being the 'Home of Football' for the South Asia region, with an unbeatable list of the biggest football properties including the Barclays Premier League, the Spanish Liga BBVA as well as the Italian Serie A, whose exclusive broadcast rights were recently secured from MP & Silva.

Peter Hutton, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said, "Having a season round offering of football is at the heart of our dominance of the Indian sports market, and the unique stories that the FA Cup creates every year is a very welcome part of our line-up. The FA Cup was seen in India long before the Premier League and the other European leagues, and we're very proud to be able to continue the tradition."

"ESPN STAR Sports has a stellar track record for growing the popularity of English football in Asia and we look forward to extending this strong relationship in the coming years," said Stuart Turner, The FA's Group Commercial Director. (Business Wire-ANI)