EchoStar, Asian Television Network -- ATN -- and Viewer's Choice Canada to Broadcast ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 to Canada.Business & Sports Editors LITTLETON, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2003 EchoStar Communications Corporation EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) is the parent company of DISH Network and the maintainer of the satellite fleet that provides the signal that DISH Network markets. (Nasdaq:DISH) announced today that it has reached a joint sublicensing agreement with the Asian Television Network International Limited Asian Television Network International Limited (often just referred to as Asian Television Network or ATN) is a Canadian licensed television broadcaster providing premium programming in several South Asian languages to communities across Canada. (ATN ATN Acute tubular necrosis, see there ) and Viewer's Choice Canada for the broadcast of the 2003 Cricket World Cup through Canadian cable and satellite television providers. EchoStar is the exclusive distributor for the International Cricket Counsel's (ICC ICC See: International Chamber of Commerce ) Cricket World Cup 2003 via television, radio and the Internet to countries within North, Central and South America. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. ATN, a South Asian programmer in Canada, and Viewer's Choice Canada, a pay-per-view distributor for many cable and satellite operators across Canada, have together acquired rights to distribute 25 of the 54 matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 via Canadian cable and satellite television providers. All 25 matches will be shown live from South Africa. ATN will also broadcast a 30-minute daily highlight show of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 on a 24-hour delay. "EchoStar is pleased to have reached a sublicensing agreement with ATN and Viewer's Choice Canada, allowing for the television distribution of the Cricket World Cup to cricket fans across Canada," said Michael Schwimmer, senior vice president of Programming at EchoStar. "The Cricket World Cup is an important and popular international event which is closely followed by people who immigrate im·mi·grate v. im·mi·grat·ed, im·mi·grat·ing, im·mi·grates v.intr. To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native. See Usage Note at migrate. v.tr. from cricketing nations to the west, especially those living in Canada." "ATN is delighted to be partnering with pioneers such as EchoStar and Viewer's Choice Canada in bringing the 2003 World Cup Cricket to Canadians," said Shan Chandrasekar, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of ATN. "While the games will be live on pay-per-view across Canada, ATN is excited to be featuring a daily highlights show of the action." "There are many cricket lovers in Canada, and we are thrilled to be providing Canadians with the national pay-per-view broadcast of over 20 games of the Cricket World Cup live from South Africa," said Holly Chapman, manager of Event Marketing and Programming for Viewer's Choice Canada. "And we are especially excited to be cheering on our Canadian team in this year's World Cup." This 2003 Cricket World Cup will include the teams of Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, West Indies, New Zealand, England, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands and host South Africa. Other broadcasters include Rupavhini in Sri Lanka, Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, Pakistan TV in Pakistan, SABC SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation in South Africa, BTV (Business TV) Using television to deliver company information and training to employees in remote branches. BTV uses satellite-based video to regular TV sets or IP-based video over the LAN/WAN to desktop computers and room monitors. in Bangladesh, Sky Sports in New Zealand, Fox Sports in Australia and Sony Max in India. EchoStar's DISH Network will exclusively broadcast the World Cup in the United States. EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) is a U.S. leader in offering satellite television entertainment services to more than 8 million customers. DISH Network provides advanced digital satellite television services to the home, including hundreds of video, audio and data channels, personal video recording, HDTV (High Definition TV) A set of digital television (DTV) standards that offer the highest resolution and sharpest picture. Although some HDTV sets are available in standard (rather square) screen sizes, the overwhelming majority of sets are wide screen, which eliminates , international programming, professional installation and 24-hour customer service. EchoStar is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX NDX Index NDX Index (File Name Extension) NDX Northern Document Exchange NDX Index File ) and is a Fortune 500 company. Visit EchoStar's DISH Network at www.dishnetwork.com. About Asian Television Network International Limited Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) is Canada's largest South Asian Broadcaster with four digital specialty channels in operation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ATN has won eight digital licenses from the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC CRTC Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission CRTC Combat Readiness Training Center CRTC Cathode Ray Tube Controller CRTC China Railway Telecommunications Center CRTC Cold Region Test Center CRTC Continuously Regenerated Trap Column ) for broadcasting to Canada's multicultural communities. In 1987, ATN was the first to bring the World Cup Cricket live via satellite to Canada and has since then been an ardent supporter of the game in Canada. The viewers of ATN include thousands of cricket fans from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, East Africa, South Africa, the U.K. and the West Indies, where cricket is the national sport. ATN is a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange, TSX TSX Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE before April, 2002) TSX Transfer from Stack Pointer to Index TSX True Space Extension , with the symbol YTN YTN Youth Transition Network (collection of ministries) . For more information on ATN, visit www.asiantelevision.com or telephone Carol Lynn at 905/836-6460. About Viewer's Choice Canada Viewer's Choice Canada offers convenient, commercial-free, in-home viewing of hit movies, live championship sporting events, concerts and many other special events on an a la carte basis across Eastern Canada. Viewer's Choice Pay-Per-View offers 46 channels of near video-on-demand programming available 24 hours a day. Viewer's Choice Canada Inc. is an Astral (language) Astral - A programming language based on Pascal, never implemented. ["ASTRAL: A Structured and Unified Approach to Database Design and Manipulation", T. Amble et al, in Proc of the Database Architecture Conf, Venice, June 1979]. Media pay-per-view network (50.1%); Rogers Pay Per View Inc. (24.95%); and NetStar Communications Inc. (24.95%). About ICC/IDI The International Cricket Council (ICC) represents all cricket playing nations around the world. Its primary role is to administer the game and oversee its development and expansion. The ICC organizes various events each year under its banner. The premier event is the ICC World Cup which is held every four years. In addition, there is the Under 19 World Cup (held every two years), the ICC Champions Trophy (every two years) and the ICC Trophy. About the 2003 World Cup of Cricket The ICC World Cup features teams from all 10 major cricket playing nations plus Kenya (which has been given International One Day status) plus the top three teams from the "associate" countries (those who do not have full One Day International status). These teams qualify through the ICC Trophy tournament. The World Cup was first held in the U.K. in 1975. In the ensuing years, it has been held in Australia and countries on the sub continent. The 2003 World Cup of Cricket will be held in South Africa for the first time starting in February this year. The tournament will consist of 54 games. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion