ESPN and FIBA Reach Three-Year Multimedia Pact Beginning This Year

ESPN and
FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, have reached a comprehensive
three-year agreement (2009-11), making ESPN the exclusive English-language
distributor of live games in the U.S. for premiere
international men’s basketball tournaments, highlighted by coverage of the 2010
FIBA Men’s World Championship in Turkey.

Among the covered events:
2009 FIBA Americas Championship (Aug. 19-30 in Mexico)
2009 FIBA
EuroBasket Championship (Sept. 7-20 in Poland)
2010 FIBA
World Championship (Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey) 2011 FIBA
Americas Championship (July/August, location TBD)
2011 FIBA
EuroBasket Championship (August/September in Lithuania).

ESPN or
ESPN2 will combine to televise all U.S. National Team games, plus
additional championship-round coverage for each event. The
deal will collectively include up to 268 games (many exclusively) available
live on ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband sports network, and provide broad
multimedia rights to FIBA content across ESPN platforms.

“We’re
thrilled to partner with FIBA to add this collection of marquee
international events to our basketball portfolio,” says John Skipper, EVP of content for ESPN. “This deal fuels ESPN360.com with exclusive
content, adding to its robust premier basketball
offerings, and provides compelling world-championship
programming for ESPN and ESPN2 and a variety of other ESPN
platforms. We believe this deal will continue to
enhance the tremendous growth of international basketball in the U.S.”

FIBA Secretary General Patrick
Baumann says, “We are very pleased to partner with
ESPN, who is regarded as the leading sports broadcaster in the USA. The
agreement not only means that the FIBA World and Continental Championships will
be extensively covered across the ESPN television, Internet, and mobile
platforms but also that both FIBA and ESPN will be working closely together to
further promote international basketball within the USA.”

ESPN, ESPN2,
and ESPN360.com will provide coverage for each championship event of the 2009
and 2011 FIBA Americas Championship for Men, 2009 and 2011 FIBA EuroBasket
Championship for Men, and 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men.