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Football / FOX SOCCER CHANNEL JAMAICA
« on: September 06, 2006, 10:25:39 AM »
Channel joins with SportsMax
Local sports to break into North American market
Observer Reporter
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
 

 
Veronica Alvarez, director of marketing and communication at Fox Soccer Channel signs the agreement with SportsMax chairman Pat Rousseau (seated right) yesterday in New Kingston. Looking on (from left) are Phillip Martin and Oliver McIntosh of SportsMax. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

Fox Soccer Channel and the International Media Content Limited (IMC), the parent company of SportsMax, yesterday announced the signing of an agreement which gives SportsMax the broadcast and distribution rights in Jamaica for the rebranded Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica, effective October 1, 2006.

The agreement gives SportsMax the right to place local and regional content and commercial inventory on Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica, as well as for SportsMax to market and distribute Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica to cable operators via SportsMax's satellite network.

"... This is both a unique and historical occasion," remarked the Hon Pat Rousseau, OJ, chairman of SportsMax Limited.
"This is the classical case of the whales not swallowing the minnows, but joining the minnows. We are a very small, new company and Fox Soccer Channel is part of a very big and powerful organisation and I think the alliance means a lot to both of us," he added.

"We both feel there are benefits to be gained," he said, eyeing the prospects of SportsMax placing Caribbean sports on the Fox Soccer Channel network in North America.
"This is a huge advantage and this is something we look forward to exploiting in the very near future."

The agreement also includes SportsMax developing local and regional programming on Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica, with the prospect for broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel in the USA and Canada.

SportsMax Limited has up to four hours per day to place regional and local content on Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica, after both parties agree on the local and regional programming to be broadcast.

IMC will still operate its SportsMax channel and will offer the two channels via subscriptions through cable operators islandwide for a monthly subscription fee, which was not disclosed.

Oliver McIntosh, president and CEO of SportsMax Limited, explained that the decision to offer the channels via a subscription package is in line with other top international sports channels, such as Sky Sports in the UK, Super Sport in South Africa and Ten Sport in Asia.

"Channels like ours are less dependent on the advertising market," he said. "Subscription revenues will allow SportsMax to continue to provide a high quality and quantity of international, regional and local sports and to develop sports content for broadcast into North America."

It is expected that the gross television audience will grow from 600,000 to more than 25 million cable and satellite households in the US and the Caribbean.

And Veronica Alvarez, director, marketing and communication at Fox Soccer Channel, said she believes that the Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica will be the destination for sports for the Caribbean.

"By double teaming with IMC and SportsMax, together we create a localised version of Fox Soccer Channel tailor-made for Jamaican fans," she said.

"Thanks to IMC, Jamaican television audience will get top quality programming ... and the North American market will learn more about the Jamaican game and its contribution to the world's game."

Aside from the English Premiership and the FA Cup, Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica will broadcast Italian Serie A, the Argentine League, CONCACAF Champions Cup, the USA's Major League Soccer, as well as daily Sky Sports News and Fox Sports World Report.

SportsMax currently broad-casts to 17 countries in the Caribbean and has exclusive rights for programmes such as the overseas West Indies cricket tours, the Ashes Series between Australia and England, EURO 2008 qualifiers, the South American Copa America and the IAAF Grand Prix.

Don't shoot the messenger. :) :)




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