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| Country |
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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | |
| Network | Fox Sports International |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific (Disney International Operations)[1] |
| Sister channels | List
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| History | |
| Launched |
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| Closed |
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| Replaced by | Astro SuperSport 5 (Malaysia) Eurosport (Asia) Premier Sports (Philippines) SPOTV (Southeast Asia) ESPN Asia (digital service via social networking sites and YouTube) |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | global |
Fox Sports Asia (formerlyESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asianpay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated byFox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary ofThe Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version ofStar Sports available in mainland China and South Korea.Originally launched in early 1990s asStar Sports (earlierPrime Sports) andESPN bySatellite Television Asian Region (STAR TV) andESPN International respectively, both parties agreed to combine their operations in Asia in October 1996.News Corporation took the full control of the venture in 2012, and relaunched the channels in two phases in January 2013 and August 2014, respectively.
Hutchvision entered an agreement withTCI's Prime Network International in March 1991 to create a pan-Asian sports network reaching thirty countries and a potential audience of nearly three billion.[3]
Star Sports was first launched on 21 August 1991 asPrime Sports (體育台) with the first program beingNew York City US Open Tennis featuringtennis.[citation needed] It was an24-hourmulti-sport television channel broadcasting in English and Chinese.STAR TV, based inHong Kong, operated the channel in partnership with TCI in the United States, which ownedPrime-branded regional sports channels there. The channel was broadcast across the continent of Asia, reaching from theFar East to theMiddle East, as withAsiaSat 1's footprint. STAR TV has since regionalized the channel to serve its huge viewership.
On 1 February 1996, the channel changed its logo from a previous logo used in 1991 to a box-type STAR symbol featuring a frame, a pentagram star, and a square.
On 1 April 1999, the channel had a first major logo change from vertical to horizontal, along with other STAR TV channels.
At that time, the feed was also used in the Southeast Asian Region aside from the Chinese Region (Taiwan and China) until 31 March 2001, when they split into dedicated channels for the Southeast Asian Region.
ESPN was originally a part of the so-called "Gang of Five", which was a consortium that was set up to compete against STAR TV in the region. (The others in the group wereCNN International,HBO,TVB [withTVB Superchannel] and theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation [withAustralia Television International]) The consortium's channels were initially transmitted viaPalapa satellite, but were later also added toApstar satellite.
ESPN opened its production facility at New Tech Park in Lorong Chuan,Singapore in May 1995.[4]
ESPN and Star Sports were competing with each other across Asia,[5] but their businesses were making loss. In October 1996, both channels agreed to combine their operations in the region.[6] The resulting joint venture, later named ESPN Star Sports, was to be headquartered in Singapore (where ESPN's operations in Asia had been based).[7]
On 16 January 1998, aversion of Fox Sports was launched in the Middle East, as carried by Star Select.[8] This apparently replaced ESPN STAR Sports in the region, but the pan-Asian version was available via theAsiaSat andPalapa satellites.
On 6 June 2012, it was announced thatNews Corporation would buyESPN International's share in ESPN Star Sports.[9][10] Later,Star India took over ESPN Star Sports' businesses in India,[11] andrelaunched all of its sports channels under the Star Sports brand on 6 November 2013.[12][13]
In October 2012, Fox Football Channel was launched inMalaysia.[14] The channel ceased transmission in 2015.
On 28 January 2013, ESPN and ESPN HD was relaunched as Fox Sports and Fox Sports Plus HD in Hong Kong,Taiwan and Southeast Asia.[15][16] The regional version of ESPNews was relaunched as Fox Sports News, and SportsCenter Asia was relaunched asFox Sports Central.
On 15 August 2014, Star Sports was rebranded as Fox Sports 2, and Fox Sports Plus HD was renamed Fox Sports 3 (or Fox Sports HD inVietnam). The correspondingHD andSD versions of all three channels were also launched.[17][18]
The relaunch of ESPN Star Sports as Fox Sports did not affect much of East Asia, as aversion of Star Sports broadcast to mainland China and South Korea kept the brand, and instead, the version of ESPN forMainland China was renamed as Star Sports 2 on 10 January 2014.
ESPN International has since refocused on its digital business building out online properties forfootball (ESPNFC),cricket (CricInfo),Formula 1 (ESPNF1), and Australianrugby union (ESPNscrum),[19] and established partnership withMulti Screen Media in India (Sony ESPN TV channel until 31 March 2020),TV5 Network in the Philippines (ESPN5 programming division until 13 October 2021),Tencent in mainland China (a dedicated ESPN section at qq.com), andMediacorp in Singapore (local ad sales only for the ESPN website through its Partner Network division).
On 31 March 2020, the website of Fox Sports Asia merged into and redirected to global version of ESPN website, remained unaffected for Fox Sports Asia socials.[20]
On March 8, 2021, Fox Sports partnered withEmtek'sOTT media serviceVidio to make the networks available for Indonesian viewers.[21]
On September 18, 2020, Disney announced that it would shut down Fox Sports operations in Taiwan at end of 2020.[22] It was later revealed that operations in Taiwan would end on January 1, 2021, following years on losing money in the region.[23]
On April 27, 2021, Disney announced that the Fox Sports network, along withthe rest of Fox channels, would close down for good on October 1 after 30 years of broadcasting, folding the former Prime Sports/Star Sports Asia and ESPN Asia channel spaces, as they shift their focus to the latter streaming platformDisney+ (orDisney+ Hotstar for Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; although the launch in Vietnam was currently unknown).[2] The last event covered by the channel was the Formula One2021 Russian Grand Prix,2021 Superbike World Championship atCircuito de Jerez andUFC 266: Volkanovski vs. Ortega.
Prior to the shutdown, Korean sports networkSPOTV brought the licensee to cover up the remaining2021 MotoGP World Championship,[24] taking over the Fox Sports network once their transmission goes offline, resuming the remaining MotoGP races.[25] They also carriedSuperbike World Championship as well.[26] Vietnam in the meantime has no TV broadcasters for MotoGP, until SPOTV officially launched on December 24, 2023.[27]
Hong Kong pay TV providerNow TV picked up the coverage of2021 US Open along with the remaining races of the2021 Formula One World Championship and futureUFC fights, prior to the closure of the Fox Sports network.[28][29]
The remaining coverage of both Formula One and UFC was aired on MalaysiaAstro forAstro SuperSport 5, which has been launched post-closure;[30] PhilippinesPremier Sports from theTAP Sports network, which also replaced Fox Sports post-closure;[31] SingaporeStarHub TV andSingtel TV, for Hub Sports & Mio Sports respectively[32] and even ThailandTrueVisions'True Sport.[33]Mola streamed the remaining UFC fights in Indonesia while also carrying the sub-license to both Singapore & Malaysia for future Live fights with the inclusion ofDana White's Contender Series that hadn't been aired when Fox Sports mainly aired the UFC main events,[34] meanwhile theEmtek group aired the remaining Formula One races for their Champions TV network along with theirOTT media serviceVidio which previously carried the Fox Sports network to the service.[35][36]
As reported exclusively from SportBusiness, the Formula One coverage in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam, in which K+ owned the rights following the closure of the channel) has been transferred over tobeIN Sports starting from 2023,[37] which also carried bothAustralian Open andFrench Open tennis rights (except in Vietnam, which was owned by K+ and VTVcab respectively),[38][39] awhile SPOTV, which already available across Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam until December 24, 2023[27]), will broadcastWimbledon and theUS Open. Awhile the extension for UFC coverage in Southeast Asia was yet to be finalized.
TheJohn Dykes Show was announced to be resumed onDisney+ Hotstar in Malaysia, Indonesia & Thailand, then yet-to-be announced for otherDisney+ territories including Singapore and Hong Kong asStarOriginals.[40]
A few days after its closure, Disney relaunched the ESPN brand in Asia but as a digital media portal through its official YouTube channel and social media pages.
The individual regional feeds of Fox Sports channels include:
It also overseed aversion of Star Sports broadcast to mainland China and South Korea, and Star Sports 2 (formerly known as ESPN until 31 December 2014) broadcast to mainland China.
In South Korea, Fox Sports was partnered withJTBC until 11 March 2020, which operated JTBC3 Fox Sports (now known asJTBC Golf&Sports). As ESPN Star Sports, it has previously partnered withMBC (MBC ESPN (now known asMBC Sports+)) from 2001 until July 2010, andSBS (SBS ESPN (now known as SBS Sports)) from Late 2010 until 2014.
Broadcast rights for various sports properties contain territorial limitations and in a lot of instances, the rights indicated below may not pertain to all Asian territories in which Fox Sports operated.
Sports Business reports that pay-TV broadcaster beIN Sports is finalizing a multi-year deal beginning in 2023 reaching across most of its Asia-Pacific footprint, but excluding Australia, where Foxtel recently renewed its deal, and New Zealand.
