[Warchant]

This just came across our wire desk this morning

LONDON (AP) — ESPN will broadcast live Premier League matches for the first time in Britain after gaining rights from financially troubled Setanta.

The Premier League on Monday announced that ESPN, owned by The Walt Disney Co., will televise 46 matches next season and 23 in each of the three seasons from 2010-11 in its first major contract to broadcast live sports in Britain.

"Premier League football is one of the world's most sought after sports properties," said Russell Wolff, ESPN International's executive vice president and managing director. "This move demonstrates our commitment to British sports fans and our ongoing commitment to delivering football to fans around the world across a variety of media."
ESPN already has two channels in Britain, one with American sports and another with archived action. A third channel is to be launched for the start of the season on Aug. 15.

ESPN is also interested acquiring Scottish Premier League rights, lost by Setanta on Monday after it failed to make a 3 million pound ($5 million) payment.

The rest of Setanta's portfolio of rights, including some England national team games and the FA Cup, could become available if the network collapses after a potential rescue package fell through last week. As a result, the company failed to meet the payment deadline last Friday with the Premier League.

"The timescale of our process was tight to say the least, and it is to the great credit of ESPN that they committed themselves to adding Premier League football to their already impressive portfolio of sports rights," Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

Sky Sports, part of Rupert Murdoch's broadcast empire, has the rights to air the majority of Premier League matches live in Britain. U.S. rights are held by Fox Soccer Channel, part of Murdoch's News Corp. FSC sublicenses some to Setanta US.

Earlier this year, ESPN was outbid by Setanta for rights to air the 23 live matches each season between 2010-13.
ESPN channels showing EPL games will be part of packages retailed by Sky. Central to Setanta's decline was its need to sell subscriptions to its own channels — and it has only sold 1.2 million while teetering on the brink of administration, short of the reported 1.9 million it needs to break even.

Under existing deals, Sky will air 92 matches next season and in the following three seasons 115, including 38 first-choice matches and a large majority of the second-choice games.

[kurtsimonw]

Is Espn available on ntl _ my ntl box is the box i have more channels on we have subscribed for all the skysports and movie channels _ so i hardly ever watch sky digital

? any help i cant be asked checking just yet lol

As for as I'm aware it's only available on Sky and Virgin Media.

Any idea on the ESPN costing Kurt? I can't find any indication on having it on it's own.

I'm with Virgin Media but being a student can't afford all the damn Sports channels, roll on next year and a proper wage (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

From what I've heard the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN America, ESPN Classics) is £8 - £2 cheaper than the Setanta package - for Sky subscribers, I'm not sure about Virgin. This is the only thing I've found. The way it's worded makes it seem a little confusing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Virgin Media has secured a carriage agreement for ESPN's standard definition and high definition channels.

On August 3, ESPN America will be replaced in the UK by a new subscription-based ESPN service available in standard and high definition. It will carry the Premier League matches acquired after Setanta's collapse along with sports currently shown on ESPN America. ESPN has also recently acquired additional football rights from the SPL, MLS and top divisions in Europe.

ESPN and ESPN HD will be offered free of charge to customers taking Virgin Media's top XL tier of television service. The channels will also be available to customers on the M and L tiers for £8 per month if they subscribe to Sky Sports or £10 standalone. All Virgin Media television customers will receive the channels free in August.

ESPN HD will only be available to those customers who take Virgin's high definition V+ PVR.

Virgin Media chief commercial officer Mark Schweitzer said: "This agreement solidifies Virgin Media's place as the home of TV entertainment and is unquestionably the best value TV deal for sports fanatics. We've got all the sports content you'd expect and adding the new ESPN channels to our line-up will mean our customers can watch all the football action they want.

"We're always looking for ways to go the extra mile for our customers and we think this market beating offer does this in spades as well as providing a sweetener for the start of the football season. We are extremely proud to have partnered with ESPN, which is the world's leading multimedia sports entertainment company."

Virgin's price point undercuts ESPN's price on Sky, where it is offered at £9 per month for Sky Sports subscribers and £12 standalone.

Lynne Frank, ESPN's managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: "We are delighted to add Virgin Media as a new distribution partner and to offer millions more sports fans ESPN's compelling mix of Barclays Premier League and Clydesdale Bank Premier League football, as well as the best of international football and top quality sports.

"The plan to make the channels available to Virgin Media's XL customers will help ESPN better serve sports fans in the UK. It's an exciting season ahead and we look forward to bringing our new channels, ESPN and ESPN HD as well as ESPN Classic, to as many sports fans as possible."

ESPN's opening EPL game will be Everton v Arsenal on August 15, with coverage starting from 5:30pm.

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Ah ok £12 it would seem then, that's not too bad.

Just hope it's somewhat better than Setanta's coverage.

[kurtsimonw]

Just hope it's somewhat better than Setanta's coverage.

ESPN America came with the Setanta package and I always thought it was superb, then again that was for US sports, so I'm not sure if we'll have a bunch of Americans in the studio talking football, that would be disappointing.