Star Sports (East Asian TV channel)
 | |
| Broadcast area | Mainland China South Korea |
|---|---|
| Headquarters |
|
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 480i/576i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific (Disney International Operations) |
| Sister channels | Mainland China: Star Movies National Geographic South Korea: Channel V International Nat Geo Wild Nat Geo People |
| History | |
| Launched |
|
| Closed | 1 October 2021 |
| Former names |
|
| Links | |
| Website | Official Website |
| Availability | |
Star Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was an East Asian pay television sports channel broadcast to Mainland China and South Korea, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia). It was previously part of the Fox Sports operations in East and Southeast Asia (formerly ESPN Star Sports), but this version retained Star Sports name; ESPN Mainland China was instead renamed Star Sports 2.
History[]
Hong Kong-based Star TV launched Prime Sports (later renamed Star Sports) in partnership with American company TCI, which owned Prime-branded regional sports channels. The channel was broadcast across Asia, as with the footprint of AsiaSat 1. Star TV have since regionalised the channel with a number of versions, including a dedicated version for Taiwan. Later, ESPN have joined in the region as a competitor to Star Sports.
In October 1996, ESPN and Star Sports have agreed to combine their operations across Asia.[1] As a result, a joint venture named, ESPN Star Sports was formed, to be headquartered in Singapore.[2]
In June 2012, it was announced that News Corporation would buy ESPN International's share in ESPN Star Sports.[3][4] Following the News Corporation take over, ESPN all over Asia would be relaunched as Fox Sports but the relaunch of ESPN Star Sports as Fox Sports did not affect much of East Asia, as Star Sports continued to broadcast in Mainland China and South Korea kept the brand, and instead, the version of ESPN for Mainland China was renamed as Star Sports 2 on 10 January 2014.[5][6]
Alongside 18 other channels owned by Disney, the two Star Sports channels was shut down on October 1, 2021, after which the channel spaces created by Prime Sports Asia in 1991 and ESPN Asia in 1992, both folded and ceased to exist.[7]
Channels[]
- Star Sports 1
- Star Sports 2: This channel was not available in South Korea only in Mainland China.
Programming[]
Sporting events covered by Star Sports include:
Australian Rules Football[]
Baseball[]
- Major League Baseball:
- Select spring training and regular season games (home games only and select road games)
- ESPN Major League Baseball (Sunday Night Baseball and select special games, tie-breaker and Home Run Derby)
- MLB All-Star Game (MLB International feed)
- Postseason (wild card, Division Series and Championship Series)
- World Series (MLB International feed)
- World Baseball Classic
- Korea Baseball Organization (ESPN feed)[8]
Basketball[]
Boxing[]
- Versus
- World Boxing Matches
Bull Riding[]
- Professional Bull Riders events
Cricket[]
- ICC
- Cricket World Cup[9]
- Under-19 Cricket World Cup (all matches available on Fox+, highlights and live coverage of final on television)
- Women's Cricket World Cup
Football[]
- AFC Champions League (from play-offs, for West Zone play-offs until quarter finals)
- AFC U-19 Championship
- AFC U-16 Championship
- AFC Futsal Championship
- AFC Futsal Club Championship
- Danish Super League (one match per week, 2019–2021 (originally from June 2020 with the remaining matches in 2019–20))
- DBU Pokalen (three matches (both semi finals and a final) in 2019–20)
Golf[]
- The Masters Tournament
- U.S. Open Championship
- The Open Championship
- PGA Championship
- PGA EuroPro Tour
- ANA Inspiration
- United States Women's Open Championship (golf)
- Women's PGA Championship
- Ricoh Women's British Open
- The Evian Championship
- Ladies European Tour (Highlights only)
- LPGA Tour
Kickboxing[]
Mixed Martial Arts[]
Motorsports[]
- Formula One
- FIA Formula 2 Championship
- FIA Formula 3 Championship
- FIM Motocross World Championship
- Superbike World Championship
- World Touring Car Cup (only for highlights)
- MotoGP
- WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
- FIA World Endurance Championship (only for highlights)
- IndyCar Series
- Formula E
- Supercars Championship
Rugby[]
Union[]
Tennis[]
- Australian Open
- French Open
- Wimbledon
- US Open
- Fed Cup (final only)
- ATP Cup
- Laver Cup
- Hawaii Open
News[]
See also[]
- Fox Sports Asia
- Star Sports (Indian TV network)
- Fox Sports' (and previously ESPN Star Sports') partnership in South Korea, past and present:
References[]
- ^ "Rival sport channels ESPN, Star TV team up together". Advertising Age. October 9, 1996. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
- ^ Sullivan, Maureen (January 15, 1997). "Asian TV team christens venture ESPN Star Sports". Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
- ^ Szalai, Georg (6 June 2012). "News Corp. to Buy Out ESPN's Stake in Asian TV Venture". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Steel, Emily (June 7, 2012). "News Corp to take over ESPN Star Sports". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Christensen, Nic (July 4, 2014). "Fox to reorganises its sports channels". Mumbrella Asia. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Valisno, Jeffrey O. (August 26, 2014). "Fox completes rebranding of sports channels". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Multiple sources:
- Frater, Patrick (27 April 2021). "Disney Slashes Linear TV in Asia With 18-Channel Closure, Shifts Focus to Disney Plus". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- Kanter, Jake (27 April 2021). "Disney Closes 18 Asia TV Channels As It Shifts Focus To Disney+". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- Lai, Adrian (29 April 2021). "Disney To Shut Down 18 Channels In Southeast Asia". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ "ESPN Reaches Agreement with Eclat Media Group to Provide Exclusive English-Language Coverage of KBO League, South Korea's Most Popular Sports League, throughout Canada, Parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Select Countries in Asia". ESPN. 2020-05-22. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "FOX Sports Asia on Instagram: "The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 starts today!