ONE World Sports extends US rights For J League, K-League and CSL Soccer Louise Duffy ©RapidTVNews | 23-05-2012 (Link: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.ph...hts-for-j-league-k-league-and-csl-soccer.html) One World Sports (OWS) has signed three-year extensions starting in 2012 of its exclusive North American multi-platform rights with Japan’s J League, the Korea Professional Football League (K-League) and the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) under terms of an agreement with World Sport Group (WSG). Each weekend, One World Sports will feature three games from the J League, two games from the CSL and one game from the K-League. This is in addition to two games from the Australian League (A-League). The games will be shown live whenever possible. Rick Jemison, senior VP of programming, One World Sports, said: "We are so pleased with the extension of our J League, K-League and CSL football rights. "We are committed to bringing Asia's best soccer matches to its fans in North America. It is a tremendous vote of confidence for Asia's pre-eminent soccer leagues to choose us to continue to deliver the live and exclusive coverage of their games." The J League includes 18 teams and is the top division of the Japanese professional football league. Its season is played from March to December and consists of matches played in double round-robin (home and away) format of 34 games each. The CSL is the highest and most prestigious level of professional football in China. The league has 16 teams. Three clubs competed in this season’s AFC Champions League, Asia’s premier soccer club competition, with Guangzhou Evergrande qualifying for the round of 16. The K-League is South Korea’s top professional football league. It has a proven history of excellence, with four of the league’s sixteen teams competing in the 2012 AFC Champions League and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Ulsan Hyundai advancing to the round of 16. ------------------------------------------------------- One World Sports (OWS) is available on DishNetwork (Chinese basic package for $10/month) on channel #646. They have owned the rights to the 2011 and 2012 AFC Champions League (seems to be renewable on a yearly basis). They have also had (still have?) EvertonTV and BoltonTV from the Premiership. Web site: http://www.oneworldsports.com/. -------------------------------------------------------- About ONE World Sports ONE World Sports – The Leader in Asian Sports is the first English language multi-screen, multi-platform Asian focused sports network in the United States. ONE World Sports has exclusive live and same-day coverage of international sporting events including top Asian soccer such as the Champions League, Asian Cup, Japan’s J-League and the Chinese Super League. Other major coverage includes the OneAsia golf tour, the World Pro Tour Table Tennis series, Badminton’s Thomas and Uber Cups, World Championships, Super Series and the Chinese Basketball Association. Our exclusive programming provides a well-rounded and action packed schedule of live sporting events that appeal to all sports fans. As a three-screen network, ONE World Sports provides content via Verizon VCAST, and broadband - in addition to television. About ONE Media Corp ONE Media Corp is a privately owned company with operations and programming offices based in Dallas, Fort Worth, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York and Singapore. ONE Media Corp owns and operates ONE World Sports, a network with a focus on sports from the Asian region. America ONE, a general entertainment and sports television network, America ONE Sports, a broadband PPV and On-Demand service for professional and college sporting events and ONE CONNXT, an end-to-end content distribution service that provides high quality video utilizing our proprietary IP technology. SA
ONE Media is a very minor player. Low-power TV stations and streaming of minor sports TV properties (CollegeInsider.com basketball tournament, for example.) The rights to Asian soccer aren't worth anything in the U.S. market. ESPN3.com valued the Chinese Soccer League at a symbolic $1/season before ONE Media took it away. That tells you all you need to know. (Ligue 1 from France is another U.S. rights property with an old valuation of $1/season by FOX Soccer before beIN Sports USA took over.)