Singapore – ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) is planning two basic tier channels, ESPN 2 and ESPN News, with a view to launching them in Q3 2009. The channels have been taken to market around the region, generating significant interest from new Pay-TV players and established operator alike. With high rights costs to live sporting events keeping ESPN and STAR Sports in the ARPU-upping premium tiers, the network is seeking to provide an affordable alternative for operators looking to increase penetration at entry and basic tier level. While ESPN News is relatively self-explanatory, ESPN 2 is expected to be more local in focus, featuring Asian sporting events, sports entertainment type programming and shorter form content. This will prove cheaper to programme, and will be far less reliant on costly live events. Online product ESPN 360, which already exists in the US, is also being considered for the Asia Pacific region. Separately, ESS is once again being linked to SingTel mio TV, this time as being one of the final two companies, along with MediaCorp, in the running to produce mio TV’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup football. Some rumours extend as far as ESS having already been awarded the contract to produce SingTel’s UEFA football channel. However, as all parties involved in the process are believed to have been subject to a non-disclosure agreement, this remains unconfirmed. Mio TV won the rights for three seasons 2009-2011 in March 2008, with its spend estimated in excess of US$25 million – with some speculating that the telco paid up to US$40 million.