Sports network gets big boost in run-up to Olympics: Online sports company to team with ESPN for Games.THE Beijing Olympics won't come around until August of next year, but one local firm is already beginning to feel the impact. Los Angeles-based World Championship Sports Network last week received a major cash infusion and forged a distribution partnership with ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network . The online network covers more than 60 different Olympic sports The Olympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The current Olympic program consists of 35 sports with 53 disciplines and more than 400 events — the Summer Olympics include 28 sports with 38 disciplines, and the Winter Olympics through programming agreements with many key international federations and national governing bodies. The video footage the network owns is in increasing demand as media outlets prep coverage for the Beijing Games. Four-year-old WCSN WCSN Western Cape Schools' Network (South Africa) has grown steadily and last week it closed a funding package with New York-based private equity firm InterMedia Intermedia - A hypertext system developed by a research group at IRIS (Brown University). Partners. The deal makes InterMedia the majority stakeholder in the network. The investment comes on the heels of a distribution agreement the network signed with ESPN.com. "Deals like the one with ESPN have companies like InterMedia interested in investing in us," said WCSN Chief Executive Claude Ruibal. "Media is a cash intensive industry." He says that the start-up venture should become profitable in early 2009 if all goes according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. plan. Last week's deal with Burbank-based Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co. subsidiary ESPN is the most recent in a string of recent partnerships with media outlets including Fox Sports, Yahoo and AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Video. The company will bring exclusive content to ESPN360.com, the recently re-launched live sports broadband network. Additionally, the company will provide content for ESPN's Olympic Sports section. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Through a series of agreements with governing bodies, WCSN has gained rights to broadcast world championships for many sports, a number of which will not be broadcast on network or cable TV in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . For example, visitors to the site can see this year's victory by Tyson Gay in the 100-meter world championship in Osaka, Japan. The company is building a system that will allow it to archive clips of world-class athletes. As the site grows, Ruibal expects advertising revenues to increase, which could eventually lead to content being offered at no charge instead of the current subscription model. "We expect to be one of the top 20 sports Web sites on the net," Ruibal said. Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at dnusbaum@labusinessjournal.com or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 236. |
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