MUMBAI: The Asian Le Mans Series has signed ESPN Star Sports and Eurosport Asia Pacific as broadcast partners for the Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest (ACO).

ESS will broadcast highlights of the events across its networks covering television, internet and mobile platforms after each race. The deal includes VOD rights and covers ESPN STAR Sports‘ footprint of 24 countries in Asia.

The division of Eurosport called Eurosport Asia-Pacific, which has a particularly developed network on the Asian continent, will show the 2013 Asian Le Mans Series in 17 countries: South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, Hong-Kong, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Australia.

Not only will Eurosport broadcast six 26-minute magazines after each of the six events on the calendar, but it is also studying the possibility of broadcasting some of the races live or slightly delayed. The full programme of live broadcasts will be announced shortly.

S2M Executive Director and promoter of the Asian Le Mans Series Mark Thomas said, "All motor racing fans will be able to follow this rapidly expanding championship, and our teams and partners will benefit from fallout in keeping with their investments. It will also enable the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest to pass on the message to the greatest number of people in Asia about Le Mans-type races, the high level of involvement they require and the technical and sporting values on which they‘re based."

In the near future other agreements with additional television networks will also be announced.

In 2013, the Asian Le Mans Championship will consist of six three-hour events open to the following categories: LM P2, Formula Le Mans, LM GTE, FIA GT3/Super GT 300 and GTC.

Three rounds will be held in China (Zhuhai, Shanghai, Ordos) and the other three in South Korea (Autopia, 4 August), Japan (Mount Fuji, 21 September) and Indonesia (Sentul, 8 December).

The full Asian Le Mans Series calendar will be announced at the FIA World Endurance Championship round in China (25-28 October) of which the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest is the promoter and organiser.

MUMBAI; The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched the tender process for the sale of the broadcast and exhibition rights for the UK for the XXII Olympic Winter Games (2014) in Sochi, Russia, and the Games of the XXXI Olympiad (2016) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The tender also provides the opportunity to make a bid for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (2018) in PyeongChang, South Korea, and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad (2020) in a city to be selected by the IOC.

The tender issued by the IOC provides organisations interested in acquiring the rights with specific guidelines relating to bid submissions. The IOC has asked for bids to be submitted by 29 June 2012.

The IOC will assess bids on their ability to meet the highest standards in broadcast quality, their capacity to reach the broadest possible audience, their commitment to promoting the Olympic Games and the values of the Olympic Movement, as well as on the financial offer.