ESPN STAR Sports Announces Key Management Appointment

ESPN STAR Sports Announces Key Management Appointment

SINGAPORE, Feb. 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number one sports broadcaster today announced a new appointment to its management team, with Shawn Galey taking on the role of Senior Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs effective March 2005.

Galey will be based in Singapore with region-wide responsibility for all legal matters related to ESPN STAR Sports networks across Asia as well as business development and strategic relationships.

He succeeds Barry Rona, ESPN STAR Sports' Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel who retires this month after an illustrious 40-year legal career. Rona held a number of senior positions in law in New York for 30 years including Executive Director and General Counsel with Major League Baseball, before moving to Asia in 1994 to oversee all ESPN's legal activities. When the ESPN STAR Sports joint venture was formed in November 1996, he assumed the role of General Counsel and Senior Vice President. On returning to the United States next month, Rona will continue as a consultant to ESPN.

ESPN STAR Sports Managing Director Rik Dovey paid tribute to Rona's time with the company saying, ''Barry contributed to real experience, insight and initiative from the very outset of ESPN STAR Sports which has been invaluable throughout our first nine years. We thank him for everything and wish him the best.''

Galey, who has a wide range of international transactional and management experience, with particular expertise in joint ventures and structured financing arrangements, was previously Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs at CNBC Asia. He has held senior appointments at General Electric in the United States and was also engaged in private law practice with international firms in New York, Pittsburgh and Tokyo.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and engineering & public policy from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, and graduate degrees in business and law from Cornell University in New York.

Galey will report directly to Rik Dovey who said today, ''Shawn's experience will be invaluable to the company's objectives of enhancing strategic relationships while managing our business affairs in often challenging circumstances. He brings with him a keen understanding of the industry and its issues and will play a vital role in taking our business to the next stage of growth.

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. We are Asia's complete sports provider reaching over 110 million households for ESPN and over 54 million households for STAR Sports (as of July 2004). We have 13 networks -- ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Singapore, ESPN Hong Kong, Xing Kong Sports, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports S.E.A and STAR Sports Hong Kong. We bring the world's premier live sports and leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia, including the Asian X Games and the San Miguel Asian 9Ball Tour. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform which is closely integrated with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks, has established the sites as the number one on- line sports destination in their respective markets.

For further information, please contact:

Stephenie Vasko, ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: +65-6488-6126
Email: vaskos@espnstar.com

Cheryl Sim, ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: +65-6488-6134
Email: simc@espnstar.com


Source: ESPN STAR Sports

CONTACT: Stephenie Vasko of ESPN STAR Sports, +65-6488-6126, or
vaskos@espnstar.com


-------
Profile: intent