MUMBAI: Gearing up for London Olympics, ESPN Star Sports has launched a new show School Quiz 2012 with HDFC Life as the title sponsor.

To be hosted by ESS? presenter & commentator Alan Wilkins, the on-air telecast of HDFC Life School Quiz 2012 begins on 1 June.

The televised broadcast of HDFC School Quiz 2012 precedes London Olympics 2012 which will also be showcased on ESS.

Based on the theme of Olympics, the school quiz will judge the sporting quotients of young minds across the country. The television rounds will see 72 teams with two members each vying for the ?India?s Top Sports School Quiz Team? title.

In order to make the television rounds of the quiz accessible to students across the country, ESS will hold a grand entrance exam for students studying in Class VI to Class X on 8 April in 23 cities across the country.

The quiz show will also have a special section where current and past Indian Olympians will pose teaser questions to participating students.

ESPN Software India EVP ad sales Sanjay Kailash said, ?We are delighted to announce the launch of HDFC Life School Quiz 2012. The quiz tests not just skills and knowledge but also provides healthy, popular entertainment to the vast nationwide audience. This is an initiative which is extremely close to our hearts. I am eager to see how children from this sports mad country fare in this special Olympics edition.?

Added HDFC Life EVP head marketing & direct channels Sanjay Tripathy, "It is our privilege to be associated with School Quiz 2012 which will reach out to children across the nation. The School Quiz will provide a platform for the participants to represent their school, and bring pride and glory to their institution thereby improving their knowledge and enhancing confidence level."

A total of 72 teams, 18 teams from each zone, will qualify for the TV rounds.

MUMBAI: Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has unveiled its comprehensive broadcast plans on mio TV with ESPN Star Sports (ESS).

SingTel, in partnership with ESS, the IOC?s official pay TV broadcast partner, has secured the rights to broadcast the London 2012 Olympic Games.

As the largest pay TV platform across the region with the rights to broadcast London 2012 Olympic Games, ESS will feature round-the-clock coverage of the London 2012 Games across 13 channels (10 of which are in HD), available on mio TV with free access for all its subscribers.

To deliver an even more engaging experience, SingTel is also working with ESS and the IOC to explore showcasing key events in vivid 3D.

ESS MD Manu Sawhney said, ?We are very pleased to present the most comprehensive coverage of London 2012 Olympic Games in partnership with SingTel on mio TV. This is the first time fans in Singapore will have access to such a wide coverage of the Olympic Games which not only includes round-the- clock coverage on our core networks ESPN, Star Sports and ESPNEWS but 10 new additional ESPN Star Sports channels showcasing action from London 2012. To further enhance fans experience, we have lined up over 680 hours of build-up programming and original programming and along with this our talents will be bringing the highlights of the games from London. Fans can therefore look forward to the most entertaining and engaging presentation of the games ever.?

mio TV will aim to broadcast every single ?live? event that Team Singapore athletes are involved in. The platform?s technical capabilities enables viewers to use a robust search function to look for the events that they wish to watch without having to surf through all 13 channels.

SingTel CEO Singapore Allen Lew said, ?mio TV will be turning five this year. Since we launched in 2007, we have been steadily building our linear and on-demand offerings, ensuring that our subscribers have full access to key sporting events, the latest blockbusters and lifestyle programmes. Come July, our mio TV subscribers will enjoy the most comprehensive and exciting coverage of the London 2012 Games as a result of our partnership with ESPN Star Sports.?

On the home front, SingTel will be announcing a range of activities that will help ignite the flame of support for Team Singapore. Singaporeans are encouraged to come forward to give their encouragement and well-wishes for Team Singapore. More details on how to participate will be released later.

As the Official Telecommunications company for the Singapore National Olympic Council, SingTel will also be equipping the athletes with smartphones and complimentary airtime and data subscriptions while they are in London.

?Our athletes train hard for the Games and many times, find themselves spending less time with their loved ones. Using our multimedia and telecommunications services, SingTel enables Team Singapore to remain connected to their families, friends and supporters,? Lew said.

MUMBAI: The KIA X Games Asia (KXG), an action sports competition, will take place in Shanghai for its sixth consecutive year from 28 April to 1 May.

150 athletes from more than 30 countries will be engaged in world-class competition in the sports of Skateboard, BMX, Aggressive In-Line Skate and Moto X Big Air demonstrations. This year?s competitors and spectators can also look forward to an added challenge with a newly designed street course that is expected to provide a treat for spectators.

The event will be organised by ESPN Star Sports? (ESS) event management and ESPN X Games with title sponsor Kia Motors. Participants will include seven-time X Games Skateboard gold medallist Pierre-Luc Gagnon, who will attempt to win his third Mini-MegaRamp title in just as many years. Accompanying him is eight-time gold medallist Andy Macdonald and two-time gold medallist Sandro Dias. Headlining a BMX field are four-time X Games gold medallist Kevin Robinson, three-time gold medallist Chad Kagy, nine-time medallist Simon Tabron, six-time medallist Steven McCann and two-time X Games Asia gold medallist Vince Byron.

Meanwhile, Japan?s Takeshi Yasutoko will attempt to win an unprecedented sixth-consecutive gold medal in the Aggressive Inline Vert ? one for each year the competition has been held in Shanghai.

Last year?s event saw attendance records set yet again for a fifth consecutive year with 62,100 spectators over the course of four days of competition. Since 2007, the KIA X Games Asia has attracted more than 261,700 visitors and is expected to draw another large crowd this year in Shanghai.

Additionally, the event will be telecast on ESPN International networks in the U.S., Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Africa.

ESS VP, event management Harvey Davis said, ?We are delighted to see KIA X Games Asia establish itself as an iconic sports event with our sponsors and being the Year of the Dragon, we are looking forward to another successful edition in Shanghai. The event has grown spectacularly over the years and this year again will feature an outstanding list of world-class athletes across all competitions. We look forward to showcasing another exhilarating event to our fans in Shanghai?.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that the last three days of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 will be shown live by ESPN Star Sports. This is the first time that there will be live broadcast of an ICC Development event online and on television to a global audience.

Six matches from 22-24 March will be shown live from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium online at www.espnstar.com/live. The ICC has also secured live television coverage of these games into key territories via ESPN Star Sports and its licensees around the globe. A full broadcast list will be circulated at a later date.

This will be the first time that an ICC Development event, featuring only the Associate and Affiliate Members, will be shown on a live global television broadcast.

The ICC said this represents a breakthrough to expose cricket outside the traditional Test playing countries and, aligned with the ICC?s Strategic Plan, is an important step in promoting cricket to become a bigger, better global game.

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 is a 16-team global event that will be played in the UAE from 13-24 March. The top two sides will progress to the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, to be staged in Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele from 18 September to 7 October, where they will have the potential opportunity to face Australia, England, India and West Indies.

Among the six live matches that will be broadcast from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium are the first qualifying final, the preliminary final, the second qualifying final and the overall event final.

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said, "We are delighted that the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 can be watched live on television and online broadcast. We would like to thank our broadcast partner, ESPN STAR Sports, and our licensees for their splendid commitment to help us grow the game across the world and for their recognition of the growing interest in the sport outside of the Test playing world. This is an important part of our global strategy."

ESS senior VP, corporate development and cricket rights Anurag Dahiya said, "We are pleased to be working with the ICC to ensure that six matches from this important qualification tournament are shown across the world via our digital platform espnstar.com. We have already seen through our broadcast of recent ICC events, how well the likes of Afghanistan and Ireland have competed against some of the best players in the world, so it will be exciting to see these teams battle it out with some of the other leading Associate and Affiliate teams and allow our viewers to watch matches between nations that they may have never seen play cricket before."

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of acquiring the PGTI and LPGA broadcast rights, Taj Television?s soon-to-be-launched golf channel Ten Golf has acquired the broadcast rights for Asian Tour while renewing European Tour rights both for the period of six years from 2013-18.

ESPN Star Sports earlier had the broadcast rights for the Asian Tour.

As part of the deal, Taj TV will have rights to air live and exclusive coverage of European Tour and Asian Tour events. Ten Golf will telecast around 20 live events of Asian Tour and 30 live events of the European Tour in 2013, which will add up to 200 days of live golf between these two tours.

Taj Television CEO Atul Pande said, ?As we continue to expand our content, we?re delighted to add two of the most prestigious tours to our impressive line-up of golf properties. Our acquisition of the long term rights is an indication of our interest and commitment in bringing high quality golf to Indian audiences.?

From the Asian Tour, all tournaments from the Asian Tour including the tournaments which are co-sanctioned between the Asian Tour and the European Tour, the WGC-HSBC Championship, the Asian Tour Golf Show and event highlights will be televised.

Asian Tour Senior Director of Commercial and TV Eric Lynge said, ?The Asian Tour is thrilled with this new partnership with Ten Sports. The appeal of the Asian Tour has grown tremendously in India especially with the success of Order of Merit winners Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa over the years and many other young and exciting Indian golfers such as Gaganjeet Bhullar, Himmat Rai and Anirban Lahiri have also won on the Asian Tour in recent times."

Ten will telecast all European Tour tournaments live besides the highlights. Additionally, it will also showcase ?European Tour Weekly? a magazine show. Highlight programmes of the European Seniors Tour, European Challenge Tour events and ?The Challenge? magazine show will be televised.

"With India?s depth in the game and the Tour?s cosmopolitan appeal where our membership ranges from over 30 countries, we are confident viewers of Ten Golf will be treated to the very best of Asian golf over the coming years,? European Tour Director of Broadcasting and New Media Mark Lichtenhein said.

?We?re delighted to extend our relationship with Ten Sports for a further 6 years and we are excited to be central to the development of Ten Golf, India?s first golf channel. We believe that there is enormous potential for golf in India particularly following its reintroduction as an Olympic sport in 2016.?

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will launch ?Smash? on Star Sports tomorrow at 10 pm. ?Smash? will be Asia?s first ever all-inclusive racquet sports magazine show featuring the best weekly coverage from the worlds of badminton, table tennis, squash and tennis.

The show aims to be the ultimate destination for racquet lovers to keep track of their favourite players and all the latest action. The half-hour show aims to satiate Asia?s tremendous appetite for racquet sports with a collection of the best rallies, matches and top spin from players, coaches and fans from across the globe.

In addition to top event highlights, Star Sports? team will provide player interviews, profiles and on-site reporting from top tournaments across Asia and internationally.

ESS executive VP, programming and production Craig Dobbs said, "We?re delighted to add ?Smash? to our diverse portfolio of original programmes and top racquet sports coverage, including Wimbledon and Australian Open. Given Asia?s widespread passion for racquet sports combined with many top athletes of this genre being local heroes, we are pleased that we can add a new dimension of entertainment featuring the best highlights and action for racquet fans in the lead-up to Wimbledon and the 2012 Olympic Games."