ESPN360.com Inks Deal for Top Portuguese Soccer
Agreement for Live Broadband Coverage of up to 135 Matches Annually in U.S.

ESPN360.com, the broadband sports television network from ESPN, has reached a new agreement with IEC to bring U.S. soccer fans another of the world’s top International soccer competitions – Portugal’s Liga Sagres.  ESPN360.com will deliver live coverage of multiple matches per week, as many as 135 matches per season, over the next two seasons.  Matches will include coverage of Liga’s “Big Three” clubs - Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto, and Benfica – which are among the world’s elite clubs.  ESPN360.com and IEC announced the agreement that provides exclusive U.S. broadband rights.

“Adding Liga Sagres to our global soccer lineup is very exciting and adds to the value of ESPN360.com for soccer fans and our affiliates and advertisers,” said Damon Phillips, vice president, ESPN360.com.  “Liga Sagres is among the elite soccer leagues in the world, with several of the world’s top clubs, and we are thrilled to add it to our stable of top-flight soccer.”
Added Jonas Persson, CEO of IEC in Sports, “We are delighted to partner with a company with the global brand presence and status of ESPN. The Liga Sagres is one of IEC’s most important properties and this new deal with ESPN further demonstrates our commitment to Portuguese Football.”.

Further, Diogo Caldas, General Manager of Sportinveste Multimédia, SA the company handling worldwide New Media rights for Liga Sagres, said “The agreement with ESPN is of major importance to the League and to football in Portugal. Having a partner with the name and reputation of ESPN is a great step for Portuguese football. We feel sure ESPN’s commitment to our League will greatly enhance its value and are sure ESPN’s viewers will thoroughly enjoy the exciting action over the next 2 seasons.”

Portuguese Liga Sagres adds to ESPN360.com’s robust, and fast-growing, lineup of live broadband soccer coverage on ESPN360.com that includes UEFA Champions League, Euro 2008, UEFA Cup, FIFA World Cup and Women’s World Cup, Italian Serie A and Coppa Italia, CONCACAF, MLS, USA National Team, select World Cup qualifiers from around the world, Russian Premier League, Chinese Premiere League, J League (Japan), FIFA U-20 and Beach Soccer World Cup, UEFA U-19 and U-17 Championships, FIFA Futsal World Cup and several top invitational tournaments.

In the U.S., ESPN360.com is a 24/7 broadband sports television network, delivering more than 3,000 live global sports events annually. ESPN360.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated Internet service provider.  It is available free to approximately 18 million students and military personnel via any computer on a U.S. campus or military base computer network.  Additionally, it has tripled its residential distribution in the past 20 months, and is available in 24 million households nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers around the country including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more.

About Liga Sagres
The 2008-2009 season will mark Liga Sagres’ 74th.  Contested by 16 clubs, Liga Sagres sees each club play the others twice during a season — once at home and once away — for a total of 30 games. At the end of each season, the two lowest placed teams are relegated to the Liga de Honra, and the top two teams from Liga de Honra are promoted to the Portuguese Liga.
For the season, the top two teams in the Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The Champion goes directly into the group phase of the competition, with the runner-up entering the competition at the third qualifying round. The teams classified in third, fourth and fifth enter the UEFA Cup, together with the winner of the Cup of Portugal.
About IEC

IEC in Sports is a Lagardère-owned Sports Marketing Company, specialized in the distribution of television rights to sports events. Headquartered in Stockholm and with offices in Lausanne, Dubai, Hong Kong and Sydney, the company handles the Media rights to more than 250 events annually, representing a programming portfolio of more than 3,500 hours each year.

Aside from the Liga Sagres, IEC’s portfolio includes ATP and WTA Tennis, FIVB Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, IAAF Athletics, FINA Swimming and Diving, FIG Gymnastics, BWF Badminton, ITTF Table Tennis and a number of other niche sports and events,