Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan – MBC ESS Sports Co., Ltd. (MBC ESPN) of South Korea and Total Sports Asia K.K. (TSA) have acquired the exclusive television rights to a number of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) professional baseball games for broadcast in South Korea in 2007. The deal involves MBC ESPN and TSA acquiring the television rights to all the road games of the Yomiuri Giants baseball club against the Yokohama Baystars, Hanshin Tigers, Hiroshima Toyo Carp and Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball clubs, all of which belong to the NPB’s Central League.

Interest in the games is sparked by the outstanding performances of South Korea’s Lee Seung Yeop, who is in his 2nd season playing for the Yomiuri Giants baseball club. All the games acquired are expected to be broadcast live on the MBC ESPN sports channel, beginning with the opening game between Yokohama Baystars and Yomiuri Giants on March 30, 2007. The regular season of the Nippon Professional Baseball runs from March until September.

“Many thanks to Total Sports Asia, we were able to add another quality contents to solidify our number one status in Korea”, said Jin-Yong CHOI, Manager (Programming) of MBC ESPN. Chung See LIANG, Managing Director (Korea/Japan) of Total Sports Asia commented, “We are extremely honored to be able to partner with MBC ESPN on this acquisition and are also very pleased with the outcome. The Tokyo office of TSA covers 2 of Asia’s most important markets – South Korea and Japan – and we are very excited to be able to participate in professional baseball which is undoubtedly one of the most popular sports in both countries. This deal also marks TSA’s first major foray into the world of Japanese professional baseball and we are confident that more such deals will follow in the near future.”