ESPN's first Premier League fixtures

Whilst ESPN are only showing 23 live Premier League games this season, they have made some good picks for the first few months of the 2010/11 season:

August:

• Saturday 14th Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion 5:30pm
• Sunday 22nd Newcastle United v Aston Villa 1:30pm
• Saturday 28th Manchester United v West Ham United 5:30pm

September:

• Saturday 18th Sunderland v Arsenal 5:30pm
• Saturday 25th Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United 5:30pm

October:

• Sunday 3rd Manchester City v Newcastle United 1:30pm
• Saturday 16th Aston Villa v Chelsea 5:30pm
• Saturday 30th Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur 5:30pm

November:

• Saturday 13th Stoke City v Liverpool 5:30pm
• Saturday 20th Liverpool v West Ham United 5:30pm

ESPN secure FA Cup rights

An article on The Guardian website reports that ESPN have secured the FA Cup rights from next season onwards. The deal will see ESPN show two live games per round. However, ITV will continue to show one live game per round, and will get first pick ahead of ESPN. Both broadcasters will share the FA Cup final.

Despite The FA trying to rekindle their relationship with the BBC, they opted for ESPN's bid which is said to be 60% larger than the BBC's.

This is a good move by ESPN, who need something next season to try and replace the loss of half their Premier League games. However, it's unlikely that some subscribers will stay with ESPN just for the FA Cup.

Live sport - 28th September - 4th October

It's been slow for ESPN related news lately, but here's the live sport list for the coming week:


Key:

(HD) - Shown on ESPN HD
(AM) - Shown on ESPN America

Monday 28th September:

• BPL - Manchester City v West Ham - ESPN (HD) - 19:00 - 22:15

Tuesday 29th September:

• MLB - Boston v Toronto - ESPN (HD) - 00:00 - 03:00

Wednesday 30th September:

• MLB - Detroit v Minnesota - ESPN (AM) (HD) - 00:00 - 03:00

Thursday 1st October:

• MLB - TBC - ESPN (AM) (HD) - 00:00 - 03:00
• Europa League - Bate Borisov v Everton - ESPN (HD) - 17:30 - 20:00
• Europa League - Valencia v Genoa - ESPN (HD) - 20:00 - 22:15

Friday 2nd October:

• NHL - Colorado v San Jose - ESPN (AM) (HD) - 03:00 - 05:00
• Bundesliga - Schalke 04 - Eintracht Frankfurt - ESPN (HD) - 19:30 - 21:30
  

Saturday 3rd October:

• MLB - Tampa Bay v NY Yankees - ESPN (AM) (HD) - 00:00 - 03:00
• MLS - LA Galaxy v Chicago Fire - ESPN (HD) - 04:00 - 06:00
• BPL - Manchester United v Sunderland - ESPN (HD) - 17:00 - 19:45
• Serie A - Inter Milan v Udinese - ESPN (HD) - 19:45 - 21:45

Sunday 4th October:

• CFB - California v USC - ESPN (HD) - 01:00 - 04:30
• NRL - Grand Final - ESPN (HD) - 07:00 - 09:00
• Russian Premier Liga - Lokomotiv Moscow v Rubin Kazan - ESPN (HD) - 11:00 - 13:00
• Serie A - AS Roma v Napoli - ESPN (HD) - 14:00 - 16:00
• Bundesliga - Hertha Berlin v Hamburg - ESPN (HD) - 16:30 - 18:30
• Serie A - Palermo v Juventus - ESPN (HD) - 19:45 - 21:45
  

ESPN talks with Blue Square Premier end

According to The Guardian, ESPN have pulled out of talks with the Blue Square Premier. The reason given seems to be that they don't think it makes good business sense, which is fair enough.

The same article also says ESPN are still negotiating with the FA over the remaining FA Cup rights.

BBC interview Lynne Frank

There's an article on the BBC website interviewing Lynne Frank, the boss of the UK arm of ESPN.

The article gives an insight into what else we may see on ESPN in the future, with the FA Cup, Blue Square Premier, Guiness Premiership, NBA and IPL all potential candidates.

Premier Rugby in talks with ESPN

According to The Guardian, Premier Rugby are in talks with ESPN over a deal regarding rights for the 2010-11 season. Sky currently hold a package of 26 games, with 43 up for grabs next season.

Once more is known, it'll be here.

Everton v Arsenal viewing figures

According to The Guardian, Saturday's live game between Everton and Arsenal saw an average of 428,000 people watching. This was ESPN's first live Barclay's Premier League game of the season.

It is not known whether this figure includes viewers of the ESPN HD channel, but I imagine it doesn't.

In comparison, Sky Sports 1 saw an average of 966,625 people watching Chelsea v Hull, but again most likely doesn't include HD viewers.

Premier League kicks off today...and in HD!

Today is the start of the new Premier League season, and also the start of ESPN's Premier League coverage. On top of that, Everton v Arsenal, kick off at 5:30pm, will be ESPN's first HD broadcast.

It'll be worth checking out even if you're not into football.

ESPN Premier League advert

The Guardian have revealed a promo ESPN advert for their Premier League coverage, voiced by Boys from the Blackstuff actor Bernard Hill. It can be viewed here.

More football in the bag

According to Broadcastnow.co.uk, ESPN has today revealed further football rights, including the remainder of the MLS season starting from August 8th, which will include David Beckham playing for LA Galaxy against New England.

They also have a multiyear deal for German Bundesliga for up to 5 matches per week, including previews and highlights. On top of this, they will show Portuguese Liga, Dutch Eredivisie and Russian Premier League games.

Further football includes Real Madrid's pre-season friendly tour of North America, Benfica's friendly against AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur's friendly against Olympiakos. The Italian Super Cup will also be shown live.

SPL initial fixtures revealed

The initial fixtures to be broadcast on ESPN (and Sky Sports) have been revealed today.

ESPN will have the following to start with:

• Monday August 17 - Dundee United v Hearts
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 7.45pm
• Saturday August 22 - Falkirk v Hibernian
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 12.30pm
• Sunday August 30 - Hibernian v Celtic
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 12.30pm
• Monday September 14 - Falkirk v Aberdeen
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 7.45pm
• Saturday September 19 - Kilmarnock v Rangers
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 12.30pm
• Saturday September 26 - St Mirren v Celtic
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 12.30pm
• Saturday October 17 - St Johnstone v Rangers
  Live on ESPN, kick-off 12.30pm

All Old Firm games will be broadcast on Sky Sports. For the initial Sky games, see here.

Official site updated

Almost two weeks after the last update, the official ESPN site has been updated once more, this time with more content and a smarter look.

Major information from this update is:

• ESPN HD practically confirmed as a Sky exclusive, with the site saying, "All Premier League matches broadcast on ESPN will also be available in HD to Sky+ HD customers."
  

• More broadcast rights should be announced soon, with an image on the subscription page saying, "We look forward to announcing more sports over the coming days."
  

There is still no word on the site regarding Virgin Media, and there are a number of links to Sky for those wishing to subscribe. As soon as further details are available, they'll be here.

First presenter revealed

According to The Guardian, ESPN have hired former BBC presenter Ray Stubbs to present Premier League coverage. Any of you who watch some of the BBC Sport programmes, will remember Ray Stubbs from darts coverage, the Final Score programme, and occasionally presenting Match of the Day in place of Gary Lineker.

ESPN to commission IMG Sports Media

According to an article on The Guardian's website, ESPN are to commission American company IMG Sports Media to produce its studio shows for its Premier League coverage and for any future rights they may get.

"ESPN, due to launch a new UK channel in time for the beginning of the football season to house the 46 live Premier League matches that became available when Setanta went under, is poised to sign a vital production deal. The US broadcaster will commission IMG Sports Media, the production arm of the global sports marketing company, to make the studio shows and ancillary programming for its Premier League coverage and any other rights it wins. Sky cameras will provide its on-pitch coverage but IMG will take responsibility for other content, some of which is also likely to be shared with its ESPN Soccernet website. The deal is the latest manifestation of ESPN's efforts to keep costs down by outsourcing retail, customer service and production to third parties. It is also expected to extend to programming around other rights that ESPN is seeking. The Scottish Premier League is considering a joint bid from Sky and ESPN to step into the void left by the collapse of Setanta and the broadcaster is believed to be in negotiations with the Football Association over FA Cup rights."

IMG currently work with Sky Sports for their Premier League coverage. This is also the first we've heard about ESPN trying to get FA Cup rights, so here's hoping they can add those rights to the Premier League ones. More as we get it.

SPL considering combined bid from Sky and ESPN

It appears that the Scottish Premier League is considering a combined bid from Sky and ESPN for the SPL rights. The offer is said to match that of Setanta, who have recently lost the rights.

Nobody has yet commented on this, but the SPL have said "external discussions are ongoing".

Source: The Guardian

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.

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.