The ‘HOME of GRAND SLAM TENNIS’ renews its 16+ years partnership with Tennis Australia; fans to see the Australian Open broadcast in local languages for the very first time from 2015 onwards.
January 14, 2014, Asia – FOX International Channels (FIC) Asia, 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business and Asia’s leading pay-TV network, announced today that they have successfully renewed the multi-year contract for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific, the Australian Open, across 20* territories in Asia.
The signature tournament, the first of the annual Grand Slam events, has been a part of FOX Sports’ stellar line-up for over 16 years and will continue to be showcased on FOX Sports’ network of channels across multiple platforms including television, broadband, mobile and IPTV. With this multi-year renewal of the Australian Open, FOX Sports will now showcase 3 out of 4 tennis Grand Slams including The Championship, Wimbledon and the French Open, rights of which it acquired earlier this year.
Under this comprehensive new renewal agreement with Tennis Australia, fans will get to see more than 100 hours of LIVE tennis action from the Rod Laver Arena along with special programming, which includes enhanced coverage across multiple platforms and devices. In addition, to help fans enjoy the Australian Open broadcast even more, FOX Sports will continue to showcase the tournament in Mandarin and Cantonese, in addition to English. From 2015 onwards, this multi-language coverage across territories will be expanded to include Thai, Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, underscoring the sports network’s commitment to making sports more accessible to more sports fans in every market across Asia.
Rohit D’Silva, Senior Vice President, Content & Communications for Sports at FOX International Channels Asia said, “The Australian Open is one of the most celebrated events in the annual sports calendar and we are very pleased to further strengthen our relationship with Tennis Australia with this renewal. We are committed to further expand the audience base for the property by making it more locally relevant, engaging and entertaining for fans across Asia”.
Tennis Australia CEO and Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said, “I’m delighted to be continuing our strong partnership with FOX International Channels in Asia for the Australian Open. FOX International Channels have demonstrated a commitment to promoting the event and the sport of tennis across the region, and through their enhanced coverage will continue to cement our position as the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific”.
FOX SPORTS’ stellar tennis coverage is complemented by its top quality presentation featuring tennis legend, Vijay Amritraj, who continues to bring the most insightful and engaging presentation to fans in Asia. As with past editions of the Australian Open, Vijay will be presenting from the Rod Laver Arena this year, together with fellow FOX Sports presenter, Alan Wilkins.
*Territories include: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
-ENDS-
This press release was issued on behalf of FOX International Channels Asia by Tactic Public Relations Limited (Tactic). For further information, please contact:
FOX International Channels
Paul Tan
Assistant Director, Marketing (Sports)
+65 6216 6010
paul.tan@fox.com
Kelly Jang
Director, Regional Trade Marketing & PR
+852 2621 8875
kelly.jang@fox.com
Strategic Public Relations Group (SPRG)
Deborah Dayani Nanayakara
+65 6325 8275 / +65 9758 4071
deborah.dayani@sprg.com.sg
Nicole Su
+65 6325 8267 / +65 9297 4611
nicole.su@sprg.com.sg
About FOX International Channels (FIC)
FOX International Channels (FIC) is 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 300+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, factual, sports, movie and lifestyle channels across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in 48 languages. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high-definition extensions, reach over 1.6 billion cumulative households worldwide.
In Asia, FIC operates or distributes 30+ channel brands, including the FOX, STAR and National Geographic brands, with over 100 feeds across 14 markets. As the leading pay-TV network in the region, we reach more than 550 million cumulative subscribers across Asia Pacific and the Middle East with offices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Australia, New Zealand and the UAE. For more information, please visit www.foxinternationalchannels.com.
About FOX Sports
FIC Sports networks includes FOX Sports, the channel that delivers some of the most compelling LIVE sport events from around the world, including the flagship sports news show FOX Sports Central; STAR Sports, which features a wide variety of premium sports content; FOX Sports Plus (HD), the high-definition 24-hour sports channel; FOX Sports News the first 24/7 sports news channel; STAR Cricket, the comprehensive cricket channel; STAR Cricket HD, the High Definition comprehensive cricket channel; FOX Sports Play, the broadband network providing LIVE and on-demand sports properties and additional exclusive content; FOX Sports Mobile, the mobile application that allows fans to access on-demand, premium world-class mobile sports content and www.foxsportsasia.com, the online destination for comprehensive sports content, also in local languages in Bahasa Malaysia (www.foxsports.my), Bahasa Indonesia (www.foxsports.co.id) and Mandarin (www.foxsports.com.tw)