New-Look CABLE TV Sports Platform to Greet New Soccer Season

(Hong Kong, July 18, 2004) Hong Kong Cable Television Limited (CABLE TV) will launch two brand new channels in August to accommodate the wide-array of exclusive soccer and other sports programmes on its platform, the leading pay television operator announced today. This would be in addition to the 3 channels (i.e. Super Soccer, Sports and Odds Express) that CABLE TV is already offering.

CABLE TV also disclosed today that it had renewed the exclusive right to carry the German Bundesliga. With that addition, CABLE TV will be the exclusive broadcaster of all four top European tournaments in Hong Kong. The others are the Barclays English Premier League, the Italian Serie A and the Spanish Primera Liga.

From August 14, a dedicated channel (EPL Channel) will be launched on channel no. 63 to carry the most popular soccer action in Hong Kong, the Barclays English Premier League (EPL). The channel will carry live EPL matches and ancillary programmes. CABLE TV plans to carry no less than 260 EPL matches live in the coming season and multiple matches played at the same time will be carried on multiple sports channels. All matches will be broadcast with full professional Cantonese commentaries from Hong Kong and English commentaries from England.

At the same time, a dedicated soccer betting channel will be launched on channel no. 64 to present live coverage of the major matches, ancillary programmes, and betting information from a betting perspective. Subscribers who wish to restrict access to this channel for minors can do so with the parental lock feature offered by the set-top-box.

When the new soccer season starts, Spanish Primera Liga matches will primarily be carried on the Super Soccer Channel (channel no. 61) while Italian Serie A and German Bundesliga matches will primarily be carried on Cable Sports Channel (channel no. 62). The Odds Express Channel (currently on channel no. 60) will be moved to channel no. 65, providing detailed soccer betting odds to punters.

Apart from the four top European soccer tournaments, CABLE TV has also secured exclusive carriage rights for 2006 FIFA World Cup and qualifying matches of South America and Europe leading up to the Final to be held in Germany in 2006.

All the new channels will be included in the Basic Package of CABLE TV and viewers will not need to pay extra to enjoy the best soccer action in town. Viewers can also watch top notch sports events including swimming, volleyball, tennis, table tennis and track and field events on CABLE TV sports platform.

CABLE TV also offers a wide variety of other sports programmes in its premium platform, including cricket action on Ten Sports and World Cricket Live channels, as well as top soccer action from China.

Mr Ronald Chiu, CABLE TV's Vice President of News and Sports, said, "The new look of our sports platform will provide the most comprehensive soccer coverage in town, not only in terms of quantity, but also variety and information, to viewers who are hooked to the game for different reasons."

About Hong Kong Cable Television Limited
Hong Kong Cable Television Limited (CABLE TV) is Hong Kong's leading pay television service provider. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of i-CABLE Communications Limited which is Hong Kong's leading fully integrated communications company that owns and operates one of the territory's two near universal telecommunications networks; provides pay television and broadband Internet access service, and creates its own multi-media content.

CABLE TV now offers more than 78 locally-produced and international channels, providing a wide array of news, sports, movies, documentaries, financial and general entertainment programmes.

Appendix I
Description on Sports Platform