SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The World Championship Sports Network (WCSN), the first network devoted exclusively to showcasing the world's best athletes in major international sports competitions from around the world, today announced a strategic partnership agreement with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. In addition to managing WCSN's digital assets, MLBAM will have an equity position in WCSN. WCSN is dedicated to providing live or same-day-delayed in-depth coverage of over 40 global sports, online, on television and on multiple platforms, so that fans can enjoy them not just around the Olympic Games but annually, for their entire season.
The partnership solidifies and expands a recently established commercial relationship between the two companies. Over the past three months alone, WCSN has delivered over 160 hours of live event programming through their wcsn.com website. The programming has featured major world championship coverage including:
Track and Field World Championships from Helsinki, Finland (26 USA medals, 14 of them gold)
Artistic Gymnastics World Championships from Melbourne, Australia (9 USA medals, 4 Gold)
Rowing World Championships from Gifu, Japan (7 USA medals, 2 golds)
Wrestling World Championships from Budapest, Hungary (7 USA medals, 1 gold)
Fencing World Championships from Leipzig, Germany (1 gold medal, Womens Team Saber)
Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships from Baku, Azerbaijan
Canoe/Kayak Slalom World Championships from Sydney, Australia
Other upcoming planned coverage includes World Championship and World Cup events in skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, road and track cycling, mountain biking and many other sports.
"MLB Advanced Media has executed flawlessly over the last few months in delivering premier event coverage to our subscribers," said Claude Ruibal President and CEO of WCSN. "MLBAM's unique ability to deliver our content to multiple platforms, from online, cellular, VOD and handheld devices, combined with our planned cable and satellite and IPTV coverage, provides us a tremendous asset to bring our network to viewers anywhere they want to be, whenever they want to watch. MLBAM has a proven, scalable, and reliable infrastructure that provides important end-user personalization."
"We consider WCSN's exceptional relationships with the international sports federations, their extensive portfolio of exclusive sports rights and their commitment to provide superior coverage to the sports fan worldwide, an unmatched opportunity. Together, we expect to meet the extensive consumer demand for these sports across multiple viewing platforms," said Bob Bowman, President and CEO of MLB Advance Media.
"We will work closely with the WCSN team to provide significant interactive opportunities to complement their planned cable and satellite telecasts," added Bowman.
"The enthusiasm and excitement we have received from our viewers has been phenomenal. For the first time, many sports fans have a home where these incredible international sporting events and their heroes will be delivered to fans outside the confines of the Olympic Games," said Ruibal.
MLBAM will manage the network's website, www.wcsn.com, including the online shop, auction and ticketing platforms, plus other interactive media assets, backend functionality, digital encoding and online customer service and support, and they will also market the WCSN content to their database of over seven million subscribers.
About World Championship Sports Network
World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) is the first programming network dedicated to capturing athletes and international sports federation competitions from around the world. With exclusive long term programming agreements with over 20 major international sports federations, including track and field, cycling, skiing and snowboarding, gymnastics and many more, WCSN will provide a seasonal offering of these major international events to viewers across the USA. The company was co-founded by Claude Ruibal, President and CEO, and Tom Hipkins, Managing Director, both with long term experience with international sports and television. For more information, please visit www.wcsn.com.
About MLB Advance Media
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners to centralize all of Baseball's Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, www.mlb.com, and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the most comprehensive Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans the most complete baseball information on the Web, including up-to-date statistics, game summaries, extensive historical information, and exclusive features about Major League Baseball events and programs, including online ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of every game, live and archived video webcasts of entire games, pitch-by-pitch enactment of games, and hosted post-game video highlight shows. MLB.com offers more live events on the Internet than any other website in the world.