To tweet this release: https://bit.ly/CricinfoWin8

To download the app: https://es.pn/cricinfo-windows-8

For downloadable images: https://bit.ly/CricinfoWin8Images

For a demo video of the new app: https://bit.ly/CricinfoWin8Video

New app optimises ESPNcricinfo experience across devices for new OS

Complements experience of watching cricket matches on TV or in person

Leverages ESPNcricinfo’s position as world’s leading digital cricket brand

ESPNcricinfo has launched a new free multi-device, multi-screen app which provides a cricket fans a new design and user experience optimised for Windows 8 and the variety of devices which will feature it.

Available worldwide now through the Windows Store, the ESPNcricinfo app is optimised for multiple devices, including touch screen devices such as tablets and laptops, as well as providing a newly-enhanced experience for fans accessing ESPNcricinfo via desktop PCs. The app utilises tiles, which provide users with dynamically updated content, such as ESPNcricinfo’s live cricket scores. It also uses the Windows wide, horizontal interface, creating an elegant user experience while allowing them to access ESPNcricinfo’s vast library of statistics and long-form feature journalism, as well as its unparalleled live match-day experience and daily news and analysis.

Providing cricket fans with an intuitive user interface that displays content simply and cleanly, the app has been built around the principle that cricket fans need to access scores and news quickly – and allows fans to switch quickly between their favourite teams or types of content.

Arne Rees, vice president, digital media, ESPN International, said: “ESPN and ESPNcricinfo have a long heritage of being at the convergence of new technologies and the very best in sports coverage – and this is another great example. For fans that will be using new Windows 8 devices, this offers a great new experience while delivering them the unmatched coverage of the sport that has mad ESPNcricinfo the leading digital cricket brand in the world.”

Features of the new app include:

• An ESPNcricinfo tile on the Windows Start screen to provide dynamic, live content, such as the latest scores or breaking news.
• The app scales across devices, so that it looks as good on a tablet as it does on a 21-inch wide-screen monitor, scaling to each resolution automatically.
• Locally-relevant: the app can detect the location from where users log on, providing content relevant to that region in key cricket markets
• Using the new Windows user interface, photos sent directly from cricket grounds all over the world are displayed full-screen and showcased in elegant galleries.
• Comprehensive hub for specific Test, one-day, T20 and domestic series from around the world, funnelling all content on series past, present and future, with news, features, photos, fixtures, results, all available for the fan to pin straight to their Windows Start screen.

The app joins ESPN’s range of multi-screen sporting content, including the ESPNFC, ESPNF1 and ESPNcricinfo mobile apps as well as ESPN Goals, the UK mobile app which brings fans exclusive video of goals from every Barclays Premier League match within just minutes of it taking place.

The new app comes as ESPNcricinfo increasingly engages with cricket fans on multiple devices and platforms. During the recently concluded World Twenty20 championship, globally, via all devices and plaforms, ESPNcricinfo posted its best-ever audiences for the Twenty20 format of the game – with fans logging more than 800 million page views and spending 2.3 billion total minutes.

Notes to editors

• The ESPNcricinfo Windows Store app is not available on smartphones as a “mobile app”. It is available on personal computers, desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs running Windows 8.
• Windows 8 is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use solely on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs.
• ESPN also develops an ESPNcricinfo smartphone app for the Windows Phone operating system, available on Nokia and other Windows Phone devices.

About ESPN

ESPN, Inc. is the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.

ESPN International has grown to include ownership — in whole or in part — of 48 television networks outside of the United States, as well as a variety of brand extension businesses, which allow ESPN to reach fans in 200 countries and territories.

In the UK, ESPN now includes a portfolio of television and digital brands including ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Classic, ESPN America and ESPN America HD, ESPN.co.uk, ESPNCricinfo.com, ESPNFC.com, ESPNScrum.com, ESPNF1.com, ESPN Goals and ESPN Player (broadband).

ESPN and ESPN HD feature exclusive live coverage of the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, UFC and much more.

ESPN Classic now has five networks (UK, French, Italian, pan-European and Middle Eastern feeds) available in more than 40 countries.

ESPN America and ESPN America HD, the only European networks devoted exclusively to the best in North American sport, features coverage of the NFL, NHL, MLB and NCAA Cricket and Basketball across Europe, available to 19 million homes in more than 40 countries.

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