The new Le Mans series, the Asian Le Mans Series, whose first full championship will take place in 2013, has found two prestigious TV partners to show its endurance races: ESPN STAR Sports and Eurosport Asia-Pacific.
Asia's leading sports content provider ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) will broadcast highlights of the events across its networks covering television, internet and mobile platforms after each race. The deal includes VOD rights and covers ESPN STAR Sports footprint of 24 countries in Asia.
ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier sports from around the globe featuring some of the most iconic sports events to millions of viewers through its 26 television networks and 3 broadband networks, each localized to deliver differentiated programming to meet diverse needs of Asian sports fans. Its comprehensive portfolio of multimedia assets includes its television networks (ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR Cricket, FOX Football Channel, ESPNEWS, ESPN HD, STAR Cricket HD), broadband network (ESPN Player), and digital content services (espnstar.com, Mobile ESPN).
The division of Eurosport called Eurosport Asia-Pacific, which has a particularly developed network on the Asian continent, will show the 2013 Asian Le Mans Series in 17 countries: South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, Hong-Kong, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Australia. Seven million homes have already subscribed to this channel, which was launched in January 2006.
Not only will Eurosport broadcast six 26-minute magazines after each of the six events on the calendar, but it is also studying the possibility of broadcasting some of the races live or slightly delayed. The full programme of live broadcasts will be announced shortly.
In the near future other agreements with additional television networks will also be announced.
In 2013, the Asian Le Mans Championship will consist of six 3-hour events open to the following categories: LM P2, Formula Le Mans, LM GTE, FIA GT3/Super GT 300 and GTC.
Three rounds will be held in China (Zhuhai, Shanghai, Ordos) and the other three in South Korea (Autopia, 4th August), Japan (Mount Fuji, 21st September) and Indonesia (Sentul, 8th December).
The full Asian Le Mans Series calendar will be announced at the FIA World Endurance Championship round in China (25-28 October) of which the Automobile Club de lOuest is the promoter and organizer.
Mark Thomas, S2M Executive Director and promoter of the Asian Le Mans Series: Were very proud to have ESPN STAR Sports and Eurosport on board as broadcasters of our championship in what is its first season. In 2013, the power of these networks will guarantee excellent coverage of our series. Through them all motor racing fans will be able to follow this rapidly expanding championship, and our teams and partners will benefit from fallout in keeping with their investments. It will also enable the Automobile Club de lOuest to pass on the message to the greatest number of people in Asia about Le Mans-type races, the high level of involvement they require and the technical and sporting values on which theyre based.
