MUMBAI: X Games VIII, which claims to be the world’s premier action sports event, is slated to receive the largest worldwide television distribution of any previous X Games event.

The free-to-the-public action sports competition took place between 15 and 19 August in Philadelphia and was featured extensively in the US on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which for the first time presented a prime-time X Games telecast, on 18 August between 7 and 9 pm ET, part of 20 hours of original coverage on the three networks.

Meanwhile ESPN International, which owns or operates 25 television networks outside of the US, will televise X Games VIII to more than 113 million households in over 140 countries and territories early next month. In addition, ESPN has syndication agreements with terrestrial broadcasters in Brazil (Globo), Great Britain (BBC, C5), Japan (NHK, FUJI-TV) and Spain (TV 3). Eurosport, the most widely distributed channel in Europe, serving more than 54 countries and 90 million households, will also televise X Games VIII in September.

ESPN International’s distribution efforts, coupled with the extensive coverage that will be provided in the US on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, means X Games VIII will be televised to more than 300 million households in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Supplemental news highlights and sports anthology programmes could take these figures even higher.

ESPN’s X Games franchise currently includes events in the US and around the world. In addition to the Winter X Games and X Games, which are held in the US, ESPN stages annual international X Games competitions in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including a six-stop Asian Xtour.

Next year, ESPN will debut the X Games Global Championship, an event that will feature six teams representing different regions of the world - US, Europe, Canada, South America, Asia and Australia - with the goal of crowning an one of them the X Games Champion.