MLS and Fox Sports International Announce Four-Year Deal

New York, NY (April 1, 2003) - Fox Sports International (FSI) has reached a four-year agreement with Major League Soccer to nationally televise at least 25 regular-season games and at least eight playoff games per season on Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español, commencing April 12. The agreement will also extend the broadcasts to Fox affiliated networks in Latin America and the Middle East. The announcement was made during a joint press conference today by David Sternberg, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español, and MLS Chief Operating Officer Mark Abbott.

The new Saturday Night Soccer on Fox Sports World will open with the D.C. United - Kansas City Wizards match on Saturday, April 12, live at 8:00 p.m. (ET), and Fox Sports World reporter Christian Miles will be on-site to contribute a halftime and post-game report each week. In addition to the live telecasts, at midnight eastern time following each game, Fox will produce MLS Wrap on Fox Sports World, an hour-long, weekly studio-hosted highlights show covering league-wide highlights, stats, interviews and standings that will include an interactive viewer email element. On Fox Sports en Español, the weekly Saturday night game will be broadcast in Spanish as La MLS en Fox Sports en Espanol.

“We are very pleased that America’s top soccer league has joined our roster of exceptional global soccer programming and we are confident that our alliance will spur a new level of excitement for soccer fans across the country,” said Sternberg. “Through our combined efforts, we will generate increased visibility of American soccer talent both at home and abroad.”

“Major League Soccer is ecstatic about the opportunity to showcase our regular-season and playoff contests, the competitive nature of our teams and the personality of our players on a cable network that has become a destination for soccer fans in the Western Hemisphere,” said Abbott. “Our fans have been clamoring for a weekly highlight show and Spanish-language broadcasts, and Fox Sports World has helped us deliver.”

Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español will nationally broadcast most weekly games at 7:30 p.m. (ET). Soccer fans can get detailed MLS game information by logging onto the networks’ Web sites, www.foxsportsworld.com or www.fse.terra.com.

Based in Los Angeles, Fox Sports International is an international sports programming and production entity housed within the Fox Cable Networks Group, one of the major operating units within Fox Entertainment Group (NYSE: FOX) and News Corporation (NYSE: NWS). FSI operates the programming services Fox Sports World and Fox Sports Middle East, as well as a London-based programming syndication sales division, and is partnered with Global Television in Fox Sports World Canada. It joined with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. and Liberty Media Corporation to form Fox Pan American Sports LLC, the world’s largest Spanish-language sports operations and programming venture, spanning North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. Through this joint venture, FSI manages the U.S. Spanish-language sports network Fox Sports en Español.

2003 BROADCAST SCHEDULE
all times ET – schedule subject to change