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.

That's good news. Setanta is pretty poor, ESPN can't be worse.

So how does it work? Doesn't Sky Sports own the rights to air the EPL games? More than one company (can) have the rights to broadcast?

I think they get sold in packages for the TV companies, from memory there's like 6 and SkySports own 4 currently, with Setanta owning 2. Now this will be ESPN's.

Therefore, no one at this current time owns exclusive rights for the league, although it's fair to say SkySports has a large monopoly over it.

I'm just hoping that if ESPN isn't airing games on ESPN America that they bring out a new channel.. though hopefully it's not an extra thing I have to subscribe to and it just comes with the Setanta package..

Setanta soon won't be worth having in all honesty.

Well it depends which way you look at it. I subscribe to ESPN America and Setanta is 'free' to me, rather than the other way around.

Setanta goes into administration

The Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports has gone into administration after failing to make a number of payments to sporting organisations.

The administrator Deloitte said that it would shortly cease broadcasting to customers in Great Britain but would continue to operate elsewhere.

They said they would immediately stop collecting subscription payments.

About 200 employees involved with the British operations will be made redundant, the firm said.

Setanta had a total of 420 employees in the UK and Ireland.

"This is a sad day for all concerned," said Sir Robin Miller, chairman of Setanta.

"Unfortunately, in a difficult and highly competitive market, and despite strenuous efforts by the board and management, it has not been possible to find sufficient additional funds in the time available to ensure its survival."

Setanta will continue to broadcast in Ireland.

Setanta International and Setanta Ireland have not entered administration.

Setanta Sports missed payments to both the English Premier League and the Scottish Premier League (SPL) in recent weeks, resulting in both organisations taking their respective broadcasting rights back.

On Monday, the US sports network ESPN bought the rights to show the 46 English Premier League games Setanta was due to show next season, as well as the 23 matches it was to broadcast in each of the following three seasons.

The SPL has said it is also looking for a new buyer for its domestic broadcasting rights.

ESPN has secured an exclusive TV rights deal to broadcast live Italian Serie A matches in the UK.

Under the deal agreed with Media Partners and Silva, ESPN will broadcast up to three live Serie A games per week for the 2009/10 season. Coverage will begin on August 22 when AC Milan take on Siena, followed by Serie A champions Inter Milan versus Bari on August 23.

All matches will be shown on the new ESPN channel, which was launched on Monday in standard and high definition on Sky and Virgin Media. The SD channel is also now available on Top Up TV and BT Vision.

ESPN EMEA vice president Jeroen Oerlemans said: "We're very pleased to be able to broadcast the Italian Serie A. As one of the best leagues in the world, the live coverage will sit nicely with our Barclays Premier League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League and Bundesliga matches, making the channel the number one stop for football fans around the UK in SD and HD."

Media Partners and Silva chief executive Carlo Pozzali added: "We are delighted to increase our relationship with ESPN, a broadcast partner which ensures best coverage for Italian Serie A in the United Kingdom."

YES!

Between ESPN and Sky Sports we'll get English, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Scottish football, as wel as internationals. Thank you ESPN!

YES!

Between ESPN and Sky Sports we'll get English, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Scottish football, as wel as internationals. Thank you ESPN!

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

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

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.

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

I'm not sure if we'll have a bunch of Americans in the studio talking football, that would be disappointing.

But probably true. Or we will have some strange retired player get the job like Mr McManaman...