MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced specialised value Packs for its Mobile ESPN service in India. The specialised packs have been designed for the sports enthusiast in India and will provide customised packages for the regular updates on Cricket, International Soccer, English Premier League and Sports News in Voice and SMS formats.

Riding on the growing penetration of mobile telephony as well interest of the youth of India in varied sports specially cricket and soccer, Mobile ESPN is targeting 10 million subscribers by 2012. Mobile ESPN is currently available on Airtel, Hutch and BSNL networks. ESS had entered the mobile realm last year.

ESS head new media business Sricharan Iyengar said, "Mobile ESPN is targeted to be the home of sports for fans across India. Our mandate is to deliver the latest sports news, information updates, analysis and statistics to sports fans anytime, anywhere.

"There is a huge market to be tapped as there is a growing audience for sports like Soccer, Motosports and Tennis. Cricket still remains the most popular game in the country. With expertise and experience of ESPN, we are uniquely positioned to exploit this market. The launch of specialised value packs is a part of our strategy to provide sports‘ fans the latest information on their favourite sport, the way they want it".

TThe newly launched packs are ‘EPL/ FA football SMS subscription pack‘, ‘International Football SMS pack‘, ‘Sportscenter News pack‘, ‘Cricket SMS pack‘, ‘Mobile ESPN Voice portal pack‘ and ‘Hatrick‘- a game based application on the Hindi movie of the same name.

The EPL/FA Football SMS subscription pack will offer regular news updates on the league to EPL fans. The service comes at a nominal charge of Rs 50 per month in which the users will get 22 SMS alerts every week related to the top 5 EPL clubs i.e. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. The alerts will feature daily morning Football news headlines, match schedule on all match days, match summary after every match and EPL points table every Monday.

The International Football SMS pack available at Rs 50 per month will keep soccer fans updated on the latest from the arena of international football. The pack includes 23 SMS alerts every week related to the top 5 International clubs other than the ones in EPL i.e. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter Milan. The alerts will include daily morning Football news headlines, match summary after every match and gossip from the International Football arena.

The Sportscenter News pack will keep the users updated on the latest news from the world of sports. The Sportcenter service is charged at Rs 30 per month and includes 2 SMS alerts daily- morning and evening- from the world of sports as they happen.

To be updated with the latest from the World of Cricket– from toss update to Man of the match, who‘s scoring the tons, fall of wickets, updates and expert analysis at regular interval, Mobile ESPN has launched the Cricket SMS Pack which will feature regular SMS alerts on every match covering toss update, regular match scores, fall of wickets alerts, and the match summary. It will also have a daily news headlines from the World of Cricket. This service is available at a nominal charge of Rs. 30 per month.

Mobile ESPN launched India‘s first dedicated sports service on voice on mobile. To begin with the service is available in English and Hindi. Mobile ESPN users have to dial 5053776 and listen to Off TV updates and analysis from cricket, reviews, previews and expert views on all the cricketing action across the globe; the Sportscenter News updated regularly throughout the day; Football news and scores from the EPL and all other international leagues. Call charges to 5053776 is at Rs.6 / min. Mobile ESPN voice services can also be availed on monthly subscription at a rental of Rs.99 / per month and call charges at 10p / min.

Easy to access, Mobile ESPN services can be availed by dialling 505-ESPN (3776) on the phone or by sending an SMS to (ESPN) 3776, which will be the ESPN short code nationally. On entering the voice portal, the consumers can select from a module comprising sections such as Welcome and user navigation; Cricket; Football; Sports center; and New Super Selector. A user friendly feature of Mobile ESPN is that while first time callers will listen to a longer introduction with detailed navigation instructions, repeat callers‘ introduction will be brief followed by navigation options.