ADMC announces new EPL channels

Abu Dhabi Media Company announced two television broadcasting deals that will see new English Premier League channels launched in the region.

Abu Dhabi// Abu Dhabi Media Company announced two television broadcasting deals today that will see new English Premier League channels launched in the region. One agreement betweeen Endemol Sport and ADMC, which owns the screening rights for the EPL from next season, will see new programmes launched from newly built studios at ADMC. Two new Arabic EPL channels will be launched and include original shows. Two other channels will be in English, the main one a 24-hour channel from the English Premier League, the company said. Another deal with IMG Sports Media will see the company producing EPL sports programming, including live coverage of games, from a UK-based studio. Match coverage will also include pitch-side reports and pre- and post-game interviews and reports. There will also be four reporter teams based in the UK covering news around the league. "Usually football programming is just about, take the live games and the preview and the highlights and the review show and maybe you do some kind of local equivalent," said Karim Sarkis, executive director of broadcast at AMDC. "What we are doing is going beyond traditional football coverage. We are trying to immerse our fans into the football culture. As you know, the English premier league is not just about the great action on the pitch but about what goes on around the games. " All 380 games will be broadcast through AD Sports subscription channels, ADMC said. ADMC also owns The National. The EPl 2010/2011 season kicks off in mid-August. [e-mail]