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Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) announced a number of enhancements in the television broadcast for the 2009 HSBC Asian Five Nations, the tournament which involves Asia’s top five rugby teams; Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Kazakhstan and Singapore, and kicks off on Saturday April 25th.

“ARFU have are delighted with the television production and distribution arrangements in 2009. We have high calibre broadcast partners including TVB, J-Sports, MBC/ESPN, Khaber TV, ESPN Star Sports, Eurosport, Ten Sports and CNBC Europe” announced Allan Payne, Chairman of the HSBC Asian Five Nations Organising Committee.

“Initial estimates are that the five live matches and highlights will reach a potential audience of 180 million viewers across the Asian continent and Europe with broadcast in 85 countries. With 2010 HSBC Asian Five Nations acting as the Asian zone qualifier for the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup, the public interest in this tournament cannot be underestimated” added Payne.

IEC in Sports are ARFU’s international television distributors in the majority of markets. IEC act as the production coordinators for all the host unions and provide graphics and TV promotional material, arrange commentary and create a one-hour highlights show of the entire tournament.

“We will be going live from all five venues in 2009. This will be the first live rugby match broadcast from Almaty, Kazakhstan, only the 2nd live match from Seoul, Korea and the first from Singapore for more than 10 years” said Guy Horne, Director, Sports Rights, IEC in Sports.

”ARFU and the International Rugby Board (IRB) have decided to implement tactics to enhance the awareness and popularity of rugby over a short timeframe. Making the television product exciting and widely available is paying dividends” added Jonas Persson, CEO of IEC in Sports.