DUBAI, 8 August 2007 — Showtime becomes the ‘true home’ of sports on TV this month with live action from all over the globe including some of the best international football, rugby and golf.
This follows the opening of its new studios here on Sunday, aimed at expanding its network throughout the Middle East-Gulf region and also beyond.
“The opening of the $10 million studios equipped with the state-of-the-art technology marks the countdown to the new English Premier League season that kicks off on Aug. 11,” Danny L. Bottoms, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Showtime, told Arab News in an interview.
The maximum action will be shown on Showtime’s new dedicated sports channels, which include Showsports 1, 2 and 3, and Showsports Extra.
“As owners of the exclusive broadcast rights for the world’s most popular football league, Showtime will air all 380 Premier League matches with the best live commentary and world-class studio analysis in both Arabic and English,” he added.
“After the Premier League, Showtime will dedicate itself to many other world sports events including the World Cup Rugby and also conduct a variety of sports programs including analysis, interviews and talk shows,” said Bottoms who was accompanied by Charles Balchin, head of sports production.
“A significant investment has been made in two state-of-the-art studios in Dubai which are set to accommodate more than 500 hours of live studio coverage and 760 hours of live match broadcasting during the 2007-08 season. The studios and equipment bring the latest technology to deliver the analysis and commentary from world-class presenters in a way never seen before in the region,” Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, president and CEO, Showtime Arabia, told a press conference.
Its commentators will provide game by game coverage, preview and review shows, live sports reporting, expert analysis, and celebrity and football experts that guarantee unique coverage of the world’s best league, he added.
In the English studio will be Rob McCaffrey, who is one of UK Sky Sports personalities with over 20 years of top-flight broadcasting experience. He will be supported by a familiar UAE TV football pundit and ex-Celtic star Derek Whyte. The first guest on this new show will be ex-England and Chelsea favorite Ray Wilkins, now a highly respected voice in the UK football.
In the Arabic studio will be Ali Alawieh, who brought the 2006 World Cup coverage to viewers across the Middle East. He will head an expert panel of co-hosts including Khaled Al-Ghoul who has more than 20 years of TV experience, and Ali Faouz, a Middle East expert on European football.
“Showtime earlier this week signed Abdul Rahman Mohammed who captained the UAE in the 1990 World Cup, as the weekly studio analyst. And in a matter of days, the winner of Showtime’s ‘Hezz el Malaab’ competition will be announced and he will join the Arabic sports team as a professional commentator,” d’Halluin said.
When there are more than two and up to six matches being played at any one time, Showtime will air some games on other leading Showtime channels such as Showseries 1 Extra, Showshasha and Showcomedy Extra. “This will ensure all 380 games are aired live and exclusive,” d’Halluin added.
Showsports 1 Arabia is Showtime’s first Arabic sports channel that will cover all the action live and exclusive from the Premier League, with Arabic studio analysis of matches, involving top names from the Arab football world and Arabic commentary on all matches. It will also include in-depth weekly preview and review programs from Showtime’s studios, a feast of classic matches from the past 15 years of the Premier League, the Coca-Cola Championship and other sports events, all with Arabic commentary.
This makes Showsports 2 ‘The English sports channel’, which will play host to the same high quality content as Showsports 1, but with English speaking presenters and commentators.
When there are two matches on at the same time, Showsports 3 will broadcast match number two, available with both Arabic and English commentary.
As a perfect complement to the Premier League, Showsports will again be showing the race to reach English football’s top tier, as Showtime follows all the twists and turns from the Coca-Cola Championship. The new championship season gets under way on Aug. 11 — the same weekend as the Premier League.
On the Rugby Union front, sports fans will have a choice this month with club, provincial and international rugby union matches being broadcast live.
First, with only one month left before the start of the 2007 IRB Rugby World Cup, Showsports will bring some of the leading contenders in their final warm-up matches. Southern Hemisphere rugby comes thick and fast in the shape of the Currie Cup, South Africa’s premier domestic competition and its New Zealand counterpart the Air New Zealand Cup continuing throughout August.
“And it is double the action for Rugby League fans with the Engage Super League 2007 and the Challenge Cup 2007 also being shown live and exclusive on Showtime, with the grand final being broadcast from Wembley Stadium on Aug. 25,” d’Halluin said.
Also big in August is golf with several high profile European PGA Tour tournaments being aired on Showsports 3. The Scandinavian Masters is on from Aug. 16, the KLM Open from August 23 and the Johnnie Walker Championship from Aug. 30. “We also have Australian Rules Football in the shape of AFL Toyota Premiership which continues live on Showtime throughout August as does the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, America’s premier racing division,” d’Halluin said. “On the lighter side of sport, but equally popular especially in this region, Showsports is now the established home of WWE SmackDown. We are proud to broadcast this spectacular sports entertainment show and global phenomenon, which can be viewed in the Kingdom at 8 p.m. on Sundays,” he added.
