MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has concluded the broadcast sponsorship deals with four of Asia's most recognisable brands - Tiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Nokia - for the English Premier League (EPL).

The sponsorship agreement will see all four brands enjoying regional association with the 2004-2005 EPL season through a combination of multi-level integrated benefits which will include on-air and online entitlements around all 'live' matches and repeats on ESPN and Star Sports as well as marketing and online benefits.

Multi-Media Ventures senior vice-president advertising sales Greg Hayes said, "We are delighted to see the return of Tiger, Toshiba and Nokia and welcome Toyota on board as broadcast sponsors of the English Premier League. We have invested a great deal to enhance and strengthen our EPL coverage and programming. This, along with our creative advertising solutions and extensive reach across Asia, provides an excellent platform for such brands to take their marketing strategies further.

"These broadcast sponsorships with ESPN Star Sports signal their confidence in our ability to add value to their brands. Our sponsors clearly see the benefits of an association with the League and we are very pleased to offer them an avenue to leverage its enormous potential."

Toshiba Singapore MD Akio Ozaka said, "We are excited to be part of the world's most thrilling soccer tournament for the fourth season running. As an international brand, we see this as a wonderful opportunity to enhance our brand further and ESPN Star Sports gives us the platform to do just that."

Toyota Motor Asia Pacific senior VP Shigeru Takayanagi was quoted in an official release as saying, "We are delighted to take part in delivering one of the most followed sports events to the many soccer fans in Asia. This sponsorship allows us to explore with viewers, another exciting and enjoyable aspect of life even as we continue to deliver vibrancy and exhilaration, through our wide range of vehicles."

Nokia Asia Pacific mobile phones marketing director Pasi Jarvenpaa said, "The English Premier League is a wonderful platform to strengthen our affinity with soccer enthusiasts who are also Nokia consumers in Asia. With this sponsorship-our second year on the EPL-we have the opportunity to communicate the full benefits of technology beyond SMS TV such as Java and xHTML to bringing the exciting world of technotainment to diverse audiences to the region in a fun and interactive say."

The EPL season, which kicked off on 14 August, is seen live in 210 million homes across Asia and exclusive on ESPN and Star Sports. For the first time, ESS will double its coverage of the League. Ten matches will be shown each competition week instead of five, most of them 'live'. The rest are on a quick turnaround and accompanied by a line-up of programming which covers predictions, highlights, news and information, as well as pre and post-game analysis. Sports viewers can expect up to 380 matches each season compared to the previous 165. ESS' coverage of the League also includes new programmes that will engage and involve viewer participation, taking soccer entertainment to a whole new level.