ITV2 HD to launch on Sky HD on October 7

ITV will launch a high definition simulcast of the ITV2 channel on Sky on October 7.

In August, ITV confirmed its move into pay-TV with the launch of high definition versions of ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 exclusively on Sky.

According to advanced programme listings information, ITV2 HD will be the first channel to launch, becoming available to Sky+ HD subscribers on October 7.

The channel will carry a selection of programmes in native HD, including 71 Degrees North, The Xtra Factor, Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries.

ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD will launch on Sky later in the year.

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ITV2 HD testing?

There are reports that test have strated for the soon to be launched ITV2HD.

As prevoisuly mentioned this will only be available on Sky HD boxes, and at the moment, looks like it will only be available with a Sky HD subscription.

ITV2 HD is said to be testing on 11758H 29500 3/4

This is an Astra 2A north beam, which may be tricky to receive in certian areas of Spain mid afternoon.

Will try and keep you updated.

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Free Sky Movies - for a weekend

Sky Movies for Free - Free weekend soon
According to the latest Sky magazine, Sky movies will be free to all nonsky movies subscribers.

Tihs will also apply to the HD Sky Movie channel also.

This will be from 6pm on Friday October 2010 until 6am on Monday 1st November 2010.

This will be similar to this last weekends free sky sports day, and will be available to SKY SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.

It will not be available to freesatfromsky card users.

Free Sky Movies for Sky Subscribers - Special Weekend Offer

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The Simpsons in HD on Antena 3 HD on Spanish Digital TV

Antena 3 has announced that the new season of the Simpsons, wil be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen format and native HD.

This Tuesday September 28 Antena 3 will launch its new channel, a simulcast of the Antean 3 channel in HD

This announcement was made on the same day that Telecinco HD was announced as the first private channel to adopt this format. In some areas Telecinco HD is already available.

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Sky Sports Free - Sunday 26th September

Sky SPorts is opening up all 4 Sky Sports channels on Sunday the 26th of September so that you can experience Sky Sports for yourself. To enjoy the day all you need to do is tune in!

There's a wide range of sport on across the day including live coverage of two Barclays Premier League games, Spanish Football, the Tour Championship and European Golf on Sky Sports 1 & 2, SPL, Rugby League and NFL on Sky Sports 3 & 4.

All Sky TV, Virgin Media and UPC customers that do not subscribe to a Sky Sports package will be able to get Sky Sports for free. Freeview, BT Vision and TUTV customers will not be able to watch.

Sky TV, Virgin Media and UPC customers can watch Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Sky HD customers with a Sky+HD box can also watch all four channels in HD.
Virgin Media HD customers can watch Sky Sports 1 and 2 in HD.

It's on from 6am on Sunday 26th to 6am on Monday 27th September.

At the moment it is unclear if this is just for Sky subscribers who do not have Sky Sports, or if it will be opened to people with freesatfromsky cards.

Sky Sports 1,2 and 3 are available around most of Spain on an 80cm dish. Sky Sports 4 is a bit trickier to receive, even on big dishes!

Sky Sports Open Day highlights - Your TV Guide:


Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports HD1 (channel 401/408)
1330 - 1600 Wolves v Aston Villa
1600 - 1830 Newcastle v Stoke City
1900 - 2200 Rugby League (matches tbc)

Sky Sports 2/Sky Sports HD2 (channel 402/409)
1200 - 1600 Vivendi Euro Golf
1600 - 2300 Tour Championship Golf

Sky Sports 3/Sky Sports HD3 (channel 403/418)
1500 - 2000 Rugby League finals

Sky Sports 4/Sky Sports HD4 (channel 404/454)
1230 - 1500 Aberdeen v Rangers
1730 - 0030 Rugby League: Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints (1730) and Indianapolis Colts @ Denver Broncos (2100)
0300 - 0600 Live NFL (tbc)


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Sky 3d TV - coming soon - explained by Stephen Fry

With the launch of Sky UKs 3D TV channel to the public, in addition to the select few UK pubs, on the 1st October 2010, Sky and Stephen Fry take you through what to expect with Sky 3D and the technology involved for 3d television.



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WWE wrestling on Spanish TDT TV

Marca TV makes a move with WWE wrestling.

With millions of fans around the world Marca Tv, on SPainish TDT Digital TV, will broadcast every weekend the best fights of the two WWE brands, Smackdown and Raw.

In the nineties, a group of titans, men of colossal strength able to knock down on the mat to anyone who tried to shade them in a ring, raided Spanish television willing to become heroes of the smallest of the house. With them, our country reached the fever for the American wrestling, and of one of the world's largest companies dedicated to this sporting event: WWF (now known as WWE).

Now, far from that wrestling craze is gone, Marca TV will offer the best of what is, at this time, the largest and most important company in the world of wrestling: WWE.

Beginning today and every Friday at 00:00 pm and Saturdays at 22:30 hours, Marca Tv on TDT will broadcast the WWE brand's flagship programmes: Smackdown and Raw.

One of the most followed sporting events in the U.S., viewers and fans of wrestling will be delighted with the in ring moves of old and new stars like The Undertaker, Triple H, Kane, Randy Orton , John Cena, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, John Morrison, Edge, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Big Show, Christian, CM Punk, Jack Swagger or MVP, in addition to the large and beautiful divas of the sport sich as Michelle McCool, Layla, Melina, Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, Eve and Maryse.

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Live Football on Spanish GOL TV - TDT

Sunday's spectacular three classics of world football, MANCHESTER UNITED vs. LIVERPOOL, AT. MADRID vs. FC BARCELONA and Benfica vs. SPORTING

Four Liga matches, ahead of the Premier League on GOL TV

VIERNES 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

Jose Mourinho PRESS CONFERENCE (13:00) LIVE

WORLD GOL: PREVIA LIGA ADELANTE (20:00) LIVE

LIGA ADELANTE: VILLARREAL “B” vs. LAS PALMAS (21:00) LIVE


SÁBADO 18 DE SEPTIEMBRE SATURDAY 18 SEPTEMBER

PRESS CONFERENCE Josep Guardiola (1300) LIVE

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: STOKE CITY vs. WEST HAM (13:45) LIVE

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: EVERTON vs. NEWCASTLE (16:00) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA BBVA: MALLORCA vs. OSASUNA (18:00) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA BBVA: SPORTING vs. ATHLETIC (20:00) LIVE

GOL LIVE (00:00) LIVE


DOMINGO 19 DE SEPTIEMBRE SUNDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: MANCHESTER UNITED vs. LIVERPOOL (14:30) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA ADELANTE: GIMNÀSTIC vs. RAYO VALLECANO (17:00) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA BBVA: AT. MADRID vs. BARCELONA (19:00) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA PORTUGUESA: BENFICA vs. SPORTING (21:15) LIVE


LUNES 20 DE SEPTIEMBRE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20

MUNDO GOL: WORLD GOL: PRE MATCH LIGA BBVA (20:00) LIVE

SPANISH LIGA BBVA: DEPORTIVO vs. GETAFE (21:00) LIVE

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Bravo and Channel One (Virgin) to close on Sky TV

BSkyB is to close Bravo and general entertainment station Channel One, putting more than 50 jobs at risk, as part of the integration of Living TV Group.

BSkyB has decided to focus on the Living TV channel portfolio, which will see a 25% boost to its programming budget, and the gameshow and quiz channel Challenge. According to media reports, Sky has decided to focus all of its attention on the Living TV channel portfolio and gameshow network Challenge.


Living TV Group, which is home to shows including Grey's Anatomy, Britain's Next Top Model and Sons of Anarchy, currently employs 110 staff. There will be just 58 roles after integration, but it is understood that there are a significant number of positions potentially available in other parts of the BSkyB operation.

BSkyB is understood to have decided to jettison Bravo, which launched as a cable channel in 1985, because it reaches a similar demographic to Sky1 but is not believed to have the same brand equity or reach.

BSkyB is backing Living TV because, outside of sport, it is second only to Sky1 in popularity among its basic pay-TV channels. BSkyB has failed to target the female market as successfully as Living TV, which has a two-year deal with Katie Price. Sky closed its own attempt to target a female audience, Sky Real Lives, earlier this year.

It was decided that Channel One, which was rebranded from Virgin 1 in August following BSkyB's acquisition of Living TV Group for £160m in July, was too similar to Sky3, which it sits alongside as a free-to-air channel on Freeview.

BSkyB intends to "redeploy" the channels' programming, with pay-TV shows moving to other Sky channels and free-to-air fare mostly moving to Sky3.

Bravo is home to shows including Spartacus, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Sons of Anarchy. Spin-off channel Bravo 2 will also disappear. BSkyB has not said what it intends to do with the channel slot.

Challenge will move free-to-air in Channel One's slot, which will effectively double its audience reach, as BSkyB looks to grow its presence in quizzes and gameshows. There are longer-term possibilities of tie-ups with Sky Bet.

Staff have been informed of the integration plans this afternoon with all staff, including the Living TV Group managing director, Jonathan Webb, under review.

The review has been carried out by Sophie Turner Laing, the managing director of entertainment, news and broadcast operations at BSkyB.

"Content is at the heart of Sky's strategy," she said. "Living is already one of the best pay-TV channels around and is obviously a great fit with our existing channels like Sky1. There is so much potential for further development and we intend to increase on-screen investment in Living by around a quarter as part of our expanded channel portfolio. This is a big part of our plans to bring customers great content from channel brands that really cut through."

BSkyB moved quickly to announce the integration of Living TV Group after being given final clearance by the Office of Fair Trading only yesterday.

The Living TV Group integration adds to what is expected to be a major revamp of BSkyB's entertainment programming after the broadcaster struck a five-year £150m deal for the exclusive UK rights to the entire HBO catalogue of shows including The Wire, True Blood and The Sopranos.

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MTV will launch for free on TDT in Spain on September 16

MTV will launch for free on TDT in Spain on September 16

It will start by broadcasting the most spectacular music awards and shocking the world: the MTV Video Music Awards.
At 21:00 Johann Wald will welcome all viewiers with a special program from Los Angeles, on the red carpet at the MTV VMAs. Then the 2010 MTV VMAs will be shown, on MTV Spain, whch will be available for free and with no subscription on TDT.

After the half-hour special, the MTV Video Music Awards 2010 will be broadcast in full and dubbed into Castilian.

The MTV VMAs ceremony brings together the biggest stars in show business and entertainment, and every year it amazes with the exceptional quality of their live performances and surprises that can only happen on MTV.

This year live performances at the MTV VMAs include Linkin Park, Usher, Paramore, Eminem, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Drake, BoB, Florence & The Machine, and Travi McCoy, Jason and Robyn Derulo.

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Sky Sports 3D football fixtures for this season - September and October

Sky Sports 3D football fixtures for this season

Sky Sports has just released more 3D football fixtures for this season.

SEPTEMBER

Sun 12 Everton v Manchester United

Tue 14 Man Utd v Rangers (7.45pm) Champions League

Sun 19 Man Utd v Liverpool (1.30pm) Premier League

Sat 25 Man City v Chelsea (12.45pm) Premier League

OCTOBER

Tue 12 Scotland v Spain (8.00pm) Euro 2012 Qualifier

Sun 17 Everton v Liverpool (1.30pm) Premier League

Mon 18 Blackburn v Sunderland (8.00pm) Premier League

Sun 24 Man City v Arsenal (4.00pm) Premier League

Sun 31 Newcastle v Sunderland (4.00pm) Premier League

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Live NFL - American Football back on Channel 4

It's coming home! Channel 4 to show live American football again on Sunday nights

Channel 4 will show American football again this season, bringing back a mountain of memories for long-time supporters of the sport.
The channel will screen the late Sunday match live every week, with coverage beginning at 1am and the matches at 1.20am.
The first match will be between Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys on September 12.

Almost three decades after first appearing on Channel 4, the NFL is returning to its original station in a new deal to broadcast Sunday Night Football.

The NFL was first shown back in 1982 on Channel 4, with its 'American Football' show. The coverage evolved into a mixture of live, highlights and magazines shows. For many fans, the channel will always be seen as the natural home for the sport on British televison.

The NFL was first introduced to the UK on a weekly basis when newly-launched Channel 4 began airing its 'American Football' show in November 1982. The station's coverage evolved into a mix of live, highlights and magazines shows and continued until January 1998, when the Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers in the last game to be aired on the channel.

Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK, said: 'This is very exciting news. Not only does this deal ensure that the NFL’s biggest game of the week and the sport’s most exciting stars are available on free-to-air television in the UK, but it takes the league back to the station that many of our fans grew up watching all those years ago.'

It was only a few years back that interest in the sport seemed to be in terminal decline in Britain.

But with the BBC screening the Super Bowl, and two live games on satellite broadcaster Sky every Sunday, together with the Monday match on ESPN, there has never been more opportunity to watch the action.



What else was happening when Channel 4 launched their coverage in 1982?

A pint of beer cost 62p
Culture Club were number one in the charts with 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me'
The first commercial CD was produced
England went home early from the World Cup finals (some things never change)
Daley Thompson was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Among the most popular shows on TV was Fame - the era's version of Glee
The mullet was the new men's hairstyle of choice
ET and Bladerunner were among the year's big movie releases


The deal with Channel 4 completes the line-up of NFL broadcasters for the 2010 season, which kicks off on Thursday September 9th:

Sky Sports - two lives games every Sunday (6 p.m. and 9 p.m.), plus Thursday and Saturday night games throughout the season and every playoff game live, including Super Bowl XLV from North Texas, on Sunday February 6.
Channel Four - Sunday Night Football every week.
ESPN - live Monday Night Football every week (1.30 a.m.)
BBC TV - Super Bowl XLV live; weekly playoff highlights; Wembley game highlights on October 31.
BBC Radio - weekly live game commentary (9 p.m.) on 5Live Sports Extra.


Sunday Night NFL Football fixtures:

1 Sunday, September 12 Dallas @ Washington

2 Sunday, September 19 NY Giants @ Indianapolis

3 Sunday, September 26 NY Jets @ Miami

4 Sunday, October 3 Chicago @ NY Giants

5 Sunday, October 10 Philadelphia @ San Francisco

6 Sunday, October 17 Indianapolis @ Washington

7 Sunday, October 24 Minnesota @ Green Bay

8 Sunday, October 31 Pittsburgh @ New Orleans

9 Sunday, November 7 Dallas @ Green Bay

10 Sunday, November 14 New England @ Pittsburgh

11 Sunday, November 21 NY Giants @ Philadelphia

12 Sunday, November 28 San Diego @ Indianapolis

13 Sunday, December 5 Pittsburgh @ Baltimore

14 Sunday, December 12 Philadelphia @ Dallas

15 Sunday, December 19 Green Bay @ New England

16 Sunday, December 26 San Diego @ Cincinnati

17 Sunday, January 2 TBD @ TBD


Sunday Night games in Weeks 11-16 are subject to change as part of the NFL's flexible scheduling policy.

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Reports: La Sexta to start two more channel on TDT in Spain

Later this year, La Sexta will start a second free channels on TDT, and also start another pay channel on DTT.
This was confimed today by Jose Miguel Contreras, CEO of La Sexta, in the presentation of the 2010/11 season.

"We want to complement La Sexta,which has a very specific audience." Contreras said

On the third pay channel on TDT, the CEO said he hopes to launch in October. Thus, the La Sexta Group will have two open and two payment channels on TDT in Spain.

High Definition Television (HDTV) is also one of their most desired goals "We want to be the first private channel to have HDTV broadcasts."

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Canal + Football HD on Spains satellite Tv

High Definition is growing day by day in Digital +, Spain Pay TV satellite operator

From today, the platform incorporates Canal + Football HD, a new way to watch the best football in the world in detail, with the clarity and sound that High Definition television technology can offer.

With the addition of CANAL + Football HD, Digital + HD has now 15 channels of all genres, such as Canal +, Eurosport, Fox, AXN, National Geographic , Disney, and MTV.

Digital + has a special section within the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) for the HD channels (from 110 to 124 of the platform).

This HD selection will continue to grow and is designed to provide its viewers with more convenient access to the best content from television and the best quality picture and sound.

The proposed new HD Canal + Fútbol priority is a weekly live broadcasts. Highlights of Canal + HD football matches include three major championships from Continental Football League: English Premier League, the Italian Calcio and the Bundesliga.

Along with matches from these leagues, Canal + HD Football will also show games from what is today considered the best league in the world, La Liga Spanish football.

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ESPN to offer free weekend

ESPN has confirmed plans to offer a free weekend of sport later this month, including Scottish Premier League games and Aviva Premiership Rugby action.

From 6am on September 10 to 6am on September 13, ESPN and ESPN HD will be available without charge to all customers on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV and UPC. However, this offer may, like previous offers, only be available to Sky veiewers with a sky viewing card, and may not be available to viewiers wihout a sky viewing card.


The weekend will include matches from the Italian Serie A and German Bundesliga, but no action from the English Premier League.

Highlights of ESPN's free weekend include:

September 10

Bundesliga: Hoffenheim vs FC Schalke (7.30pm)

September 11

Scottish Premier League: Hamilton vs Rangers (11.30am)
Aviva Premiership Rugby: Leicester Tigers vs Exeter Chiefs (4.45pm)
Serie A: Cesena vs AC Milan (7.45pm)

September 12

Aviva Premiership Rugby: Saracens vs Sale Sharks (2.15pm)
Bundesliga: FC Koln vs FC St. Pauli (5:15pm)
Serie A: Napoli vs Bari (7.45pm)

ESPN EMEA vice president of TV channels Jeroen Oerlemans said: "Fans give so much to sport over a season, with their passion, dedication and commitment. This is a fantastic opportunity for ESPN to give back to fans."

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Sky Sports for free - for a day say reports

According top reports all 5 Sky Sports channels will be FREE on Sunday 26th September.

This is billed as Free Sports Day.

At the moment I do not know if this is free to air (ie no sky card - highly unlikely), free to view (sky card required - likely), or free to all sky subscribers (ie anyone with any sky subscription - likely)

That Sunday has TWO LIVE English Premier League football matches

Wolves v Aston Villa (2.00pm)
Newcastle v Stoke City (4.10pm)

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Sky Sports Red Button Match Choice

I have received an email about the Sky Sports Red Button Match Choice, and thought it would be useful to share the information.

This is a services used by Sky Sports for allowing the viewing of multiple matches, either tennis or football, that are not available on the main Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports 4 channels.

During the US Open Tennis, the match choice allows the viewers to watch the matches on other courts - a bit like when the BBC have Wimbledon on their Multiscreen Sports Interactive streams.

For football, Sky have Match choice, when they show highlights of the days Premier League matches. Although all matches are shown on the main channels, you can still select which of the days matches you want to watch.

Reception of Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3 on the Costa Blanca are easily available on a small satellite dish - say an 80cm satellite dish.

Sky Sports 4 (and Sky Sports News) are on a north beam frequency of the Astra 2 satellites. These north beam frequencies are weakest in Spain around 5pm in the afternoon, and even some big 2.4m satellite dishes may struggle to get these Astra 2 satellite frequencies all day.

And the Sky Sports Red Button Match Choice channels are also on these weaker Astra 2 satellite north beam frequencies, and so may not be available all day - especially on small (80cm and 1m) satellite dishes.

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Sky Satellite Default Transponder Frequency Settings For Sky TV in Spain

"What to do if you receive the message "NO SATELLITE SIGNAL BEING RECEIVED" on a Sky digibox receiver?"

"What to do if you are receiving a No Default Transponder message?"

"What is the best Sky Default Transponder frequency setting to use on the Costa Blanca Spain?"

"What is the best Freesat Default Transponder frequency setting to use on the Costa Blanca Spain?"

"My Sky digibox is showing a "searching for listings" message?"



When a Sky receiver / digibox is turned on the first time after being disconnected from the power, the box tries first tries to download approximately 6 hours of EPG information from a specific default frequency (or Transponder) from the satellite. The Sky digibox must have this information to start to work and allow you to watch Sky TV.

Unfortunately, the default frequency (transponder) that the Sky box is initially set to look for (11778) is one of the weaker signals in Spain and the Costa Blanca, especially during the afternoons, even on a 2.4m dish!

So sometime if your digibox is disconnected from the power, your Sky digibox may be unable to find this important frequency and fail to boot up, and display the on screen message "No Satellite Signal Being Received".

Therefore, to assist the digibox to receive the bare minimum information it requires boot up its "default frequency" must be changed to another frequency to enable the initial information download.

The best / most popular default transponder frequency for the Costa Blanca Spain is 12.129, although you can use any of the many frequencies that you can actually receive at the time. Yes ANY frequency will work, as long as you can receive the particular frequency!

In most cases, after a successful download the default transponder frequency will return to 11778. This is normal, and you should not really expect the digibox to keep the default transponder you have manually input.

NOTE: No matter what other people or installers say, changing this default transponder frequency on a Sky box does not increase how long channels are available. It is only used to “assist” the Sky digibox to boot up.

For example if you change the default transponder frequency setting to another frequency setting, say 12129, then when you go to watch Sky News the Sky digibox will use the frequency 12207, the frequency for Sky News.

The default transponder setting of 12129 that you have manually input is not used and overridden.

You do not have to do this process for Freesat or Generic receivers, just Sky receivers.

For more information, including a video on the process of how to change the default transponder frequency" and a downloadable instruction sheet please click on Sky Satellite Default Frequency Settings


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ESPN to offer free weekend - September 10 to 13

ESPN has confirmed plans to offer a free weekend of sport later this month, including Scottish Premier League games and Aviva Premiership Rugby action.

From 6am on September 10 to 6am on September 13, ESPN and ESPN HD will be available without charge to all customers on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV and UPC. However, this offer may, like previous offers, only be available to Sky veiewers with a sky viewing card, and may not be available to viewiers wihout a sky viewing card.

The weekend will include matches from the Italian Serie A and German Bundesliga, but no action from the English Premier League.

Highlights of ESPN's free weekend include:

September 10

Bundesliga: Hoffenheim vs FC Schalke (7.30pm)

September 11

Scottish Premier League: Hamilton vs Rangers (11.30am)
Aviva Premiership Rugby: Leicester Tigers vs Exeter Chiefs (4.45pm)
Serie A: Cesena vs AC Milan (7.45pm)

September 12

Aviva Premiership Rugby: Saracens vs Sale Sharks (2.15pm)
Bundesliga: FC Koln vs FC St. Pauli (5:15pm)
Serie A: Napoli vs Bari (7.45pm)

ESPN EMEA vice president of TV channels Jeroen Oerlemans said: "Fans give so much to sport over a season, with their passion, dedication and commitment. This is a fantastic opportunity for ESPN to give back to fans."


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Hallmark Channel to rebrand as Universal Channel on Sky TV

Universal Networks International has today confirmed plans to rebrand the Hallmark Channel as the Universal Channel in the UK.

On October 18, the pay-TV channel and its high definition variant will become the Universal Channel and the Universal Channel HD on Sky and Virgin Media. The Hallmark Channel +1 will also take on the new branding.

To celebrate its launch, the Universal Channel will give UK premieres to cop show Rookie Blue and legal drama Facing Kate in the autumn/winter season. It will also air Shattered, which stars 24's Callum Keith Rennie as a homicide detective suffering from multiple personality disorder.

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