SPL to ESPN UK?

There are rumours that the Scottish Premier League are in talks with ESPN and Sky, to broadcast the games which were previously held by Setanta Sports.

There is no official news on this, and little information on who is favourites to get the rights, so expect more information when it is known.

Premier League may show on ESPN America

A Digital Spy exclusive has suggested that one of the ways for the recently acquired English Premier League rights is for it to be shown on the current ESPN America channel, with a revamp in mind. This would see the football being shown alongside American sports.

There appear to be no definite plans, but as soon as more information is know, you'll be able to find it here.

Details to be announced today

ESPN have announced that details on their new channel will be released today. Virgin Media are still in talks over carrying the channel, but it is almost a certainty that they will.

ESPN claim that the current way of receiving ESPN America on Sky is an 'interim solution', suggesting that it won't be in the News and Events package for much longer, despite only recently being added there.

More news on the UK channel when it arrives.

Recent happenings

Things have only really begun happening in the past couple of days, with ESPN confirming that they had successfully won the rights to English Premier League football previously held by Setanta, on the 22nd of June.

• June 22nd - ESPN awarded the rights to show 46 English Premier League games for the 2009/10 season, and to show 23 games from the following three seasons.
• On the same day, www.espn.co.uk goes live, saying the following:

"ESPN is pleased to announce that it will broadcast a selection of games from the 2009/10 - 12/13 Premier League seasons LIVE and in HD."

• ESPN also confirmed its new channel would be available through Sky.
• June 23rd - ESPN confirms that its new channel will be available on cable, satellite and Freeview.
  

It is expected that ESPN will be awarded more of Setanta's rights, which they lost when they went into administration yesterday, and ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom. These include the FA Cup games, Europa League, England away games and the SPL. It has yet to be confirmed when these rights will be awarded or who has shown interest so far, but no doubt ESPN will want to add to their Premier League games.

Keep checking this blog for the latest information.

An introduction

I have created this blog, titled ESPN UK Blog, to follow the development of the sports broadcaster ESPN and its first foray into the UK market. Having recently picked up Setanta's previous Premier League rights, ESPN has entered the market for the very first time.

This blog will be updated with all the latest information as it is announced, including channel prices, how to get the new channel and when it will launch.

This isn't an official ESPN blog, it's just written by someone who is interested in the new broadcaster and wants to inform others about the latest happenings.