Beginning the three-day programme will be a SPORTEL and TV sports markets experts panel, entitled "China: What next?", which will look ahead to the future for the Chinese market.

Speakers on the panel include Beatrice Lee, the Asia Pacific managing director of media rights company MP & Silva, and Sam Li, head of content acquisition at leading Chinese digital sports media platform Sina Sports.

The session will be followed by a SPORTEL and Sport Singapore panel, entitled "Opportunities for the sports media industry in Southeast Asia", assessing the opportunities as well as challenges that Southeast Asia, as an emerging market, presents to rights-holders, sports marketing agencies and media owners delivering sports content to the region.

Lee will again feature on the panel along with Lau Kok Keng, partner and head of intellectual property, sports and gaming practice at Singapore's largest law firm, Rajah & Tann.

On Wednesday (March 16), Javier Tebas, the President of Spanish football’s top league La Liga, will moderate a presentation entitled "Global innovation to improve content and to add value to audiovisual rights".

Tebas will explain how La Liga is being transformed at a rhythm set by the fans, as part of the business strategy of internationalisation.

Concluding the programme will be a SPORTEL and Sports Video Group (SVG) business and technology panel entitled "Virtual reality, UHD, and the future of sports content delivery" with networking sessions filling the schedule for Thursday (March 17).

SPORTEL conventions gather top level executives from all over the world, representing sports networks, international sports federations, sports marketing agencies, production companies, sports content right owners and distributors, technology and new media.

The objective of the 2016 SPORTELAsia convention, which has a slogan of "meet the elite", is to offer an interactive platform for cross continental business opportunities and to determine the future of sports media in Asia.

Singapore is hosting SPORTELAsia for a second time having staged the inaugural edition in 2010.

The main SPORTEL event takes place each year in Monaco, with last year’s convention held at Monte Carlo’s Grimaldi Forum in October.

"This fourth edition of SPORTELAsia in Singapore is set to attract once again broadcasters and sports executives from all disciplines, benefitting from an ideal arena to establish and consolidate their relationships," said Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Honorary President of SPORTEL conventions.

"I am thrilled to see how, with the strong support from industry professionals, the SPORTEL concept has developed successfully not only in Monaco but also worldwide.

"The Singapore event serves as a platform for exchanges as well as a means of exploring both commercial and technical considerations, in regions that have seen the launch of an increasing number of sports channels and the continued development of major markets such as China.

"The organisers will propose once again a number of highly engaging presentations and discussions orientated around various topics such as how the combination of sport and business is approached in Asia, or the production and acquisition of new content across all screen formats.

"I wish all participants a successful 2016 SPORTELAsia."

Christian Karembeu, a FIFA World Cup winner with France in 1998, is among the sport celebrities present along with Fernando Sanz, a retired Spanish footballer and now ambassador of La Liga, and Shen Yanfei, a Chinese-born table tennis player who now represents Spain.

"Against the backdrop of a sports and media market that continues to develop apace, SPORTEL is delighted to be back in Singapore for a second time since 2010," said Amparo Di Fede, general manager of SPORTEL.

"SPORTEL gives broadcasters and executives an ideal environment in which to breathe new life into their work, with sports broadcasting not only growing in Asia, through Chinese powerhouses like LeTV and Tencent for example, but also accompanied by an increased demand for content and new programmes.

"Buyers and sellers of TV rights will be joining us in Singapore to find further material for this wide range of screen formats and strengthen the constantly evolving Asian market.

"Twenty-fifteen has already seen SPORTEL’s Monaco edition welcome 30 per cent more companies from Asia.

"Trends like this provide additional confirmation of the link between Asia and progress within the industry."