Hamburg / August 17, 2007 – The sports marketing group SPORTFIVE has concluded the sale of England’s Premier League rights in the attractive Japanese market. Broadcasting company J Sports will air the matches of the English first league for Japan’s large audience of football enthusiasts.

“We are very happy about this agreement with SPORTFIVE. We will be able to provide comprehensive coverage of the popular English league matches to our viewers”, says Masayoshi Takaba, President of J Sports Broadcasting Corporation. “The Barclays Premier League is a most prestigious asset for our channels dedicated to sports.”

“The deal we agreed with J sports represents a continuation of our excellent partnership in the past”, declares Robert Müller von Vultejus, Executive Vice President of SPORTFIVE Group. “We have cooperated with regard to a variety of content for their overseas programmes like Rugby Six Nations and Champions League Qualifiers. We are very pleased that this cooperation will now include Premier League matches too.”

The Premier League has already expressed their contentment with the finalisation of the TV rights negotiation on the Japanese market. “We are very satisfied with the result of SPORTFIVE’s distribution of our rights”, explains Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the Premier League. “We welcome J Sports to the circle of partners of the English Premier League. We are looking forward to working together in the future.”

As well as the cooperation with J Sports, SPORTFIVE has entered into further partnerships with terrestrial broadcasters such as Fuji TV, TBS, Nippon TV and TV Asahi to secure extensive free-TV coverage for all FAPL fans in Japan.