Nick Wilkinson is Vice President, Programming, at ESPN STAR Sports.  His responsibilities include acquiring major football, motorsport and rugby properties for ESS; and programming ESPN and STAR Sports networks that reach to more than 310 million viewers across 24 countries in Asia. Wilkinson joined ESPN STAR Sports in February 2005 and has over 18 years of experience in the media industry having previously worked in both the UK and the USA.  Wilkinson has acquired premium sports properties including the Barclays Premier League, FIFA World Cup 2010, UEFA Euro ’08,  the UEFA Champions League and The FA Cup; as well as Formula 1, MotoGP and the Rugby World Cup.  He is also responsible for running ESS’ 12 networks in South East Asia, Hong Kong and China. Prior to joining ESPN STAR Sports, Wilkinson was based in Washington D.C. where he was the Vice President for Business and Network Development with FOX International and National Geographic Channels International.

In April 1998, Wilkinson moved on to Fox Sports World as Director of Programming and Special Projects based in Los Angeles.  He was primarily responsible for acquiring and scheduling programmes for FOX Sports World and Fox Sports World en Espanol – two networks carrying international sports to a US domestic audience.  Wilkinson also ran FOX Sports World’s residential and commercial Pay-Per-View networks.

Prior to moving to the USA, Wilkinson worked at BSkyB as Programme Manager for Sky Sports and he was responsible for the launching and scheduling all three of Sky’s premium sports networks.

Wilkinson began his career at TWI in London as a production assistant on TWI’s coverage of the European Golf Tour and then rights negotiator.
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• Broadcast: ESPN STAR Sports manages three leading sports channel brands - ESPN, STAR Sports and STAR Cricket and broadcasts differentiated top-quality sports programming across 17 localised networks covering 24 countries to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia; and more than 208.9 million subscribers across Asia.

1. ESPN (SEA) Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Macau, Myanmar
2. ESPN (SEA2) Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia
3. ESPN (Malaysia)
4. ESPN (China)
5. ESPN (Hong Kong)
6. ESPN (Philippines)
7. ESPN (Taiwan)
8. ESPN (India) India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives
9. MBC-ESPN (Korea)
10. STAR Sports (SEA) Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Macau, Philippines, Myanmar
11. STAR Sports (SEA2) Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia
12. STAR Sports (Malaysia)
13. STAR Sports (Hong Kong)
14. STAR Sports (Asia) China, Korea
15. STAR Sports (Taiwan)
16. STAR Sports (India) India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives
17. STAR Cricket (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives)

• BPL (since 2001)
• The Masters (Since 1997)
• US Open (Since 1997)
• The Open Championship (Since 1997)
• Wimbledon (since 1992)
• F1 (since 1992)

• Production: ESPN STAR Sports produces the largest quantum of top-quality original in-house productions in Asia around a stellar line-up of acquired sports content, presented by the most professional and knowledgeable team of presenters and commentators in Asia to provide comprehensive analysis and engaging sports entertainment for every sports fan.  We produce over 3650hours of top class original programming per year, probably the largest quantum of top quality original programming around these sports.

• over 1500 hours of original football content
• over 1000 hours of original cricket content.
• nearly 100 hours of original F1 content
• SportsCenter and Score Tonight makes up over 1000 hours of top-class original sports news programming every year.

• Online: Our multi-lingual online sports websites in www.espnstar.com, www.espnstar.com.cn, www.espnstar.com.tw and www.footballcrazy.tv reaches millions of users across Asia offering sports fans a total sports content experience with real time, comprehensive, authoritative and innovative content across an unparalleled breadth of sports.

• Mobile: Two robust and differentiated mobile brands in mobileESPN & STAR Sports Mobile, continues to attract sports fans on the move with news, opinions, latest scores as well as interactive and entertaining content and exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs.

• mobileESPN currently has 22 operators in 8 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka) with a potential reach of more than 406 million across the various markets 
• STAR Sports Mobile has 7 operators in 4 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia) with has a potential reach of more than 101 million across the various markets 
• We deliver mobile content in English, Cantonese, and Bahasa Indonesia

• Events: ESPN STAR Sports Events Management has managed and promoted more than 1,000 premier sporting events around Asia. All events organised by ESPN STAR Sports enjoy unrivaled regional broadcast across Asia through our sports channels.

• Successful events calendar includes the KL World 5s, the FEI Endurance Race, 9 Ball Tour; and upcoming high-profile events in the Standard Chartered Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup and Aviva Ironman in 2009 and World Netball Championship in 2011.

• Top sports rights: Top cricket properties (ICC events, Champions League Twenty20, international and domestic cricket from the Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board); a stellar list of football properties (2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 Championship, UEFA Champions League, the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup and England home matches, the Spanish Liga), motor-racing (Formula One, WRC and MotoGP), Grand Slam tennis (Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open), the Golf Majors (The Masters, US Open and The Open Championship), top American sports (NBA, WNBA, MLB, NCAA College Football and Basketball, IndyCar Racing) and the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.