Singapore, 17 November 2003 - StarHub and MediaCorp TV will bring the UEFA EURO 2004TM tournament to viewers in Singapore from 13 June to 5 July next year.
StarHub CableTV's SuperSports and SuperSports Plus channels will show live coverage of all 31 matches in the tournament while MediaCorp TV Channel 5 will show 8 matches, comprising the opening match, four quarterfinal and two semifinal matches, as well as the final match.
Said Ms Sandie Lee, StarHub's Senior Vice President for Cable TV Services, "StarHub is pleased to be the only broadcaster in Singapore to bring viewers complete live coverage of all 31 matches in the UEFA EURO 2004TM tournament, so true-blue soccer fans will not miss out on any of the action.
"We are also happy to be working with MediaCorp TV for UEFA EURO 2004TM and we hope that our joint efforts at promoting the tournament would help to garner more support for European soccer in general."
MediaCorp TV is the only terrestrial broadcast player in Singapore to have the free-to-air broadcast rights. Working closely with StarHub, Channel 5 viewers will be able to catch the opening match "live" on 13 June, and every single match from the quarter-finals onwards to the nail-biting final, with a simulcast on TVMobile.
Ms Selena Ho, Vice-President of Network Programming and Promotions 5, MediaCorp TV, said, "This is the first time Channel 5 will be telecasting UEFA EURO 2004TM. Judging from the huge success we had with our World Cup telecast last year, we believe there is a great demand for such soccer events from our viewers. It has been a pleasure working with StarHub on this. UEFA EURO 2004TM is one of the two big sporting events Channel 5 has in store for viewers next year. The other is the Olympics held in Athens in August 2004."
Other than soccer fans, advertisers can also look forward to StarHub and MediaCorp TV’s coverage of UEFA EURO 2004TM. For the first time, both broadcasters will be working together to promote airtime and sponsorship packages for the tournament.
Said Mr Patrick Lim, StarHub's Director for Advertising Sales & Multimedia, "This is an excellent opportunity for advertisers to associate their brands with one of the world’s premier soccer tournaments. And with the combined airtime and sponsorship packages offered by StarHub CableTV and MediaCorp TV, advertisers can be assured of getting more bang for their buck while reaching out to their target audiences."
Said Eric Lynge, MediaCorp TV's Senior Vice President Airtime Sales & Marketing, "We are proud to offer Euro 2004 as a platform for our advertisers in conjunction with StarHub. This world-class tournament will give our marketing partners the opportunity to reach out and build upon their existing relationship with enthusiastic soccer fans here in Singapore."
In addition to showing the live matches, StarHub's SuperSports channel and MediaCorp TV Channel 5 will also feature special programming during the UEFA EURO 2004TM tournament period.
There will be a one-hour Match Highlights programme at 9 pm daily on SuperSports, which will feature the best moments of the matches played on the previous day, as well as give viewers a preview of the upcoming matches.
Channel 5, on the other hand, will broadcast highlights of all matches in bite-sized segments throughout the day. Viewers will be able to savour the best goals, saves and moves of all games. These special programming, daily and weekly highlights will also be simulcast on TVMobile.
Four Weekly Highlights programmes will also be produced and telecast on both channels to provide match summary and incisive analyses of matches played during the week. In addition, there will also be a pre- and post-tournament programming.
To provide a glimpse of how some of the EURO 2004 finalists made it to Portugal, SuperSports will showcase past exclusive matches of Euro 2004 Qualifiers, EURO 2004 Qualification Playoffs and International Friendlies from its extensive library of more than 50 matches. These matches will be telecast on SuperSports starting January through June 2004, highlighting the best moments of popular teams like Germany, France and England.
Other EURO 2004 programmes which will be shown on both SuperSports and Channel 5 include History of EURO Championships and Road to EURO 2004TM, as well as special 60-second vignettes which feature the profiles of star players of UEFA EURO 2004TM.
SuperSports will telecast these programmes from January to June next year. Channel 5 will air them from March 2004.
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