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World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) Closes Significant Funding, Establishing InterMedia Partners as Majority Stakeholder
October 1, 2007
World Championship Sports Dominate Internet, Available on WCSN.com and Leading Sports Sites
LOS ANGELES – October 1, 2007 – World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) today announced that it has successfully closed significant financing with private equity firm InterMedia Partners, LP. The funding comes after a series of successful World Championship Sports distribution deals with ESPN.com, FOXSports.com on MSN, AOL Video and Yahoo! Sports. WCSN also featured exclusive coverage of some of the biggest events in Olympic sports this year, including the Swimming World Championships (Melbourne, Australia), the Track and Field World Championships (Osaka, Japan), the World Rowing Championships (Munich, Germany), the World Gymnastics Championships (Stuttgart, Germany) and the Cycling Road Racing World Championships (Stuttgart), delivered to extensive audiences via WCSN.com and WCSN TV.
“With its deep roots in the media industry and a strong vision of the future, InterMedia represents a strategic, as well as financial, investor for WCSN,” said WCSN Chairman Claude Ruibal. “We are now well positioned to leverage the unique sports opportunities available to us during the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and to broaden the audience for Olympic and lifestyle sports beyond two weeks every two years.”
“We believe that WCSN is a very valuable media property, with an ability to tap into an advertiser-friendly audience that has been previously underserved by traditional broadcast media,” said Peter Kern, Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners, LP. “WCSN controls a powerful set of rights and some of the best-produced sports content featuring the greatest athletes from around the world. Millions of sports enthusiasts have waited long enough for these events to be consistently available on all platforms.”
The new funding will continue WCSN’s mission to provide unparalleled coverage of World Championships and other major international competitions in Olympic sports disciplines, many of which are qualifying events for the Games. WCSN has emerged as a premier destination for fans to watch their favorite athletes qualify for the Beijing and Vancouver Olympic Games. The company has successfully broadcast the world’s most prestigious World Championships, World Cups and Grand Prix events from around the globe. WCSN holds exclusive rights and strategic relationships with top Olympic sports federations, including the International Federation of Swimming (FINA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), International Ski Federation (FIS), the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), a recently announced partnership that will extend through 2012.
WCSN’s sports coverage includes over 200 live annual events, offering more 2,000 hours of annual original event programming and more than 10,000 hours of archival programming, delivered online with dedicated niche channels focusing on a variety of Olympic sports disciplines and lifestyle sports including track and field, rowing, swimming, skiing, cycling, gymnastics, volleyball, martial arts and more. Along with event coverage, WCSN enables fans to partake in a value-added experience allowing them to interact with their favorite world class champions, as well as become familiar with up-and-coming athletes through the site’s blogs, interviews and exclusive broadcast commentary.
About World Championship Sports Network (WCSN)
World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) is the premier destination for fans of Olympic and lifestyle sports, delivering an immersive experience via exclusive live and on-demand coverage of world class competitions, interaction with top athletes and in-depth access to sports news and information year round.
WCSN offers comprehensive coverage of over 60 sports disciplines, through exclusive long-term programming agreements across a number of key International Federations and National Governing Bodies. Major championship events in sports ranging from Track and Field, Skiing, Swimming, Gymnastics and Cycling to Volleyball, Karate and Taekwondo are featured online at www.wcsn.com and on television via WCSN's 24/7 cable sports network. WCSN also markets Olympic sports in partnership with International Federations, National Governing Bodies, local organizations, clubs, sponsors, and through related websites and publications.
WCSN has a strategic partnership agreement with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet Company of Major League Baseball, for its website WCSN.com. WCSN’s lead investor is InterMedia Partners, a private equity firm that invests in media content providers. InterMedia Partners serve the content needs of diverse communities of interest across all platforms, including broadcast, publishing, broadband and direct marketing. For more information, please visit www.wcsn.com.
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