StarHub to provide more S.League to Singaporeans

Gary Koh
info@sleague.com

Singapore football fans are in for a bigger treat on television screens this year as there will be a bigger diet of live domestic games.

Instead of the usual one game a week in previous seasons, the ongoing 2010 campaign will see two S.League matches shown live from Jalan Besar every Wednesday and Friday at 7.25pm, starting with tonight’s game between the league newcomers Beijing Guoan Talent and Etoile FC.

The Wednesday game will be shown live and exclusive on StarHub TV’s new 24-hour free sports channel SuperSports Arena (Channel 122), which is available to existing StarHub Cable TV subscribers, while Friday’s match will also be telecast on free-to-air Mediacorp Channel 5. They will also be concurrently displayed on Football Channel.

The one-year agreement was signed by StarHub Chief Operating Officer Tan Tong Hai and Football Association of Singapore President Zainudin Nordin at the launch of the SuperSports Arena channel at Toa Payoh Swimming Complex this afternoon.

It marks a deeper relationship between the two parties after they partnered to produce the highly-rated television content of the 2009 League Cup on StarHub’s Football Channel in June.

This is also the first time a pay-TV company broadcasts the S.League games, apart from the free-to-air television channels.

FAS Secretary General and S.League Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Winston Lee was happy to have StarHub on board as the new television partner for live games in 2010.

“We had a courtship with StarHub in the League Cup last year, and were very impressed with the production and how the game was being promoted and presented,” he said.

“I believe we have achieved a very good deal. By having better production and content on television, greater interest in the local game will be generated.”

Tan believes the S.League television rights deal is the stepping stone in the bigger scheme to promote and generate more interest in local sports to Singaporeans.

“FAS play an important role in building a vibrant sporting culture in Singapore, and StarHub’s earlier collaborations with FAS for the League Cup was well received by our customers,” he explained.

“We want to contribute towards Singapore’s efforts to achieve as a sporting nation and the launch of SuperSports Arena as a showcase platform for local sports is but a start.

“In recent years, there has been a lack of avenues to provide regular air-time coverage of local sports in Singapore and we have many football fans here, some of whom we hope to divert their eyeballs to S.League.”

He feels there is no better time to reignite interest in the local football scene than this as S.League aims to create more interest to the public in the ongoing season.

“We are a home-bred infocommunications company and have a sense of corporate social responsibility to dedicate local football into our programs,” he continued.

“This marks an opportunity for us to contribute back to local sports and try and revive the good old days we have experienced in the past.

“Thus, we choose to showcase the S.League, with the League Cup last year as a start.

“With the new free channel, we are dedicating space for local sports. We do not want to just use spare slots, this is a dedicated effort.”

Singapore Sports Council (SSC) CEO Oon Jin Teik also congratulated FAS for being the first National Sports Association in taking the lead to promote the game to the masses with greater marketing and publicity.

“SSC are pleased that FAS are partnering StarHub for the broadcast of S.League games,” said the former national swimmer.

“S.League is a national project and it enables the league to open up to more opportunities for sponsorship and branding while the teams are given more exposure.

“It helps to create more excitement in local sports and goes some way in helping to develop a more passionate sports culture in Singapore.”

Above article taken from S-League Media releases.