ESPN STAR Sports Announces MD Succession Plans

ESPN STAR Sports Announces MD Succession Plans

Jamie Davis to be Appointed Managing Director from 1 September 2005

SINGAPORE, Aug. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of ESPN STAR Sports today announced the appointment of Jamie Davis as the company's next Managing Director with effect from 1 September 2005.

Davis, who was most recently President of STAR China succeeds Rik Dovey who is leaving the company after nine years and five years at the helm. Davis and Dovey will be working together over the next six months to ensure a seamless leadership transition, with Dovey continuing to lead several ongoing initiatives.

Michelle Guthrie, Chief Executive Officer, STAR, and Russell Wolff, Managing Director, ESPN International said on behalf of the ESPN STAR Sports Board of Directors, "Our joint venture marks its ninth year in November and has enjoyed numerous successes under Rik Dovey's leadership. Jamie Davis will bring to ESPN STAR Sports strong industry credentials and a proven financial and business background. The Board is confident that under Jaime's leadership and with the management team, ESPN STAR Sports will continue to grow in strength and remain the number one sports broadcaster in Asia."

Davis has 14 years of Asian and international broadcast experience, which include key appointments at CBS Sports and Fox Sports as well as STAR in Hong Kong and China. He began his career at STAR in 1996 as the Chief Financial Officer of STAR Sports before being promoted to Senior Vice President of STAR Entertainment. Soon after, he assumed the position of Senior Vice President overseeing STAR's six movie channels and general entertainment channels. In his most recent role as President of STAR China, Davis successfully led the company's localisation efforts including re-launching Channel [V] and creating Xing Kong Wei Shi, STAR's flagship Chinese general entertainment channel.

On his appointment, Davis said, "As part of the team from STAR responsible for establishing the joint venture in 1996, I am very excited to be joining ESPN STAR Sports. I look forward to working with Rik during the transition and with the management team and staff to build on the network's already strong position as Asia's undisputed leader in sports."

Dovey served in a variety of Production capacities during his nine years at ESPN STAR Sports before being appointed Managing Director. Under his leadership, ESPN STAR Sport's distribution doubled to 128 million households across 25 countries in Asia and the number of customised services increased from seven to 13. The Company also set new standards for sports production, presentation and programming with the acquisition of key product such as the English Premier League and launched the Company's sports news and information efforts with Sportscenter and Sportsline.

The ESPN STAR Sports Board paid tribute to Dovey's time with the company saying, "Rik has overseen an exciting period of growth and development at ESPN STAR Sports. This is in no small part due to his leadership and dedication to the Company. The Board sincerely thanks Rik for his years of commitment, contribution and leadership and wishes him every success."

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 128 million households for ESPN and over 54 million households for STAR Sports. We have 13 networks -- ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Singapore, ESPN Hong Kong, STAR Sports Asia, 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

Source: ESPN STAR Sports

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

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