ESPN in talks to sell UK sports rights - closing in May 2013??

Sports broadcaster ESPN is reportedly in talks to sell its UK sports rights as speculation over the future of its UK channels mount.
ESPN UK lost out on Premiership Football and other rights following BT's entry to the sports rights market last year. Coverage of Premier League matches on ESPN UK ends this May, leaving the channel with a reduced portfolio of sports rights.

According to a report in media journal Broadcast today, the broadcaster is now in negotiations with other parties, thought to include BT and Sky, to sell its remaining rights to events including FA Cup and SPL matches. Any transfer of rights would have to approved by the relevant authorities who originally awarded the rights to ESPN.

The reports have raised fears that ESPN's UK channels might close following the end of the current football season.

ESPN has been on air in its current format since 2009, when it acquired numerous sports rights following Setanta's collapse in June of that year. Before then, it operated ESPN America as a standalone channel showcasing sport from its U.S. service.

2012/13 Live Football Matches on Satellite TV - Schedules

The 2012 / 2013 football season has started, and as usualy most satellite TV providers are showing ample of football.

Sky Sport, ESPN, Setatnta, Tring, Canal+, AD Sports, ADMC Sport, Al Jazeera will all be covering the best in Live UK football, including Premier league, Championship, League, League Cup, FA Cup, and other leagues.

To help we have complied a few schedules as to which channels will be shoiwng what matches

Live football matches on Sky Sports 2012/13

Live football matches on Sky Sports and ESPN 2012/13

Live Football on Satellite TV - Sky, ESPN, AD Sport, Tring, Al Jazeera

Many of these channels can be received on a 1m satellite dish.

Subscription to the relevant packages will be requried

ESPN Free Weekend February 2012

Premier League in your home for free for first time in 20 years as ESPN air Manchester City v Fulham on Freeview

Fans will be able to watch a Barclays Premier League match for free for the first time ever next month.

Broadcaster ESPN have announced that their flagship channel will be free-to-view over the weekend starting Friday, February 3.

As a result, people who just have basic Freeview, of which there around 10m in the United Kingdom, will be able to watch Fulham's trip to Manchester City on Saturday, February 4.

This will be the first time that a Premier League match has been made available for free.

Viewers will also be able to watch matches from Serie A and the Bundesliga, while basketball, tennis and UFC will also be screened during the four-day period.

"Millions of UK fans have already discovered the great range of great sport ESPN offers – from the Barclays Premier League to Serie A, to cricket, darts, motorsports and UFC," said ESPN vice president Jeroen Oerlemans.

"This is a great opportunity for us to introduce that to millions more and let them sample the programming ESPN has on offer."

The match will also be made available to BSkyB, BT Vision and Top Up TV customers, meaning that it has a potential audience of 20m. The game will be shown free to Virgin Media customers.

According to the Premier League, the previous record was 3.2m for last season’s game between Spurs and Manchester United. The highest recorded audience for a Premier League Match of the Day package was 5.49m in February last year, when viewers were drawn in by a record 41 goal haul that included Newcastle United’s 4-4 draw with Arsenal.

The game at the Etihad on Saturday 4 February will be the first Premier League game to be made available for viewing in homes with the basic Freeview package. But there is no guarantee of a bumper audience – many Freeview viewers have deliberately resisted the charms of the Premier League, which has been a key part of the BSkyB programming package.

The first live Premier League game was Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in August 1992. ESPN is broadcasting unencrypted for the whole of the first weekend in February, from Friday to Monday.

Nokia's new Lumia smart phone will sponsor the weekend.

ESPN FREE WEEKEND: HIGHLIGHTS

Friday 3rd February

Bundesliga - FC Nuremburg vs Borussia Dortmund - 7:30pm

NBA - New York Knicks @ Boston Celtics - 1:00am


Saturday 4th February

Barclays Premier League - Manchester City vs Fulham - 4:30pm

Serie A - Roma vs Inter Milan - 7:45pm

UFC 143 - Nick Diaz vs Carlos Condit - 3:00am


Sunday 5th February

Serie A - Genoa vs Lazio - 11:30am

Serie A - Fiorentina vs Udinese - 1:45pm

Bundesliga - FC Kaiserslautern vs FC Cologne - 4:15pm

Studio show - Talk of the Terrace - 6:45pm

Serie A - AC Milan vs Napoli - 7:15pm

Studio show - Pardon the Interruption - 10:00pm


This free weekend is not applicable to Virgin, UPC, Talk Talk, Freesat or Freesat from Sky platforms.

Premier League in your home for free for first time in 20 years as ESPN air Manchester City v Fulham on Freeview

Premier League in your home for free for first time in 20 years as ESPN air Manchester City v Fulham on Freeview

Fans will be able to watch a Barclays Premier League match for free for the first time ever next month.

Broadcaster ESPN have announced that their flagship channel will be free-to-view over the weekend starting Friday, February 3.

As a result, people who just have basic Freeview, of which there around 10m in the United Kingdom, will be able to watch Fulham's trip to Manchester City on Saturday, February 4.

This will be the first time that a Premier League match has been made available for free.

Viewers will also be able to watch matches from Serie A and the Bundesliga, while basketball, tennis and UFC will also be screened during the four-day period.

"Millions of UK fans have already discovered the great range of great sport ESPN offers – from the Barclays Premier League to Serie A, to cricket, darts, motorsports and UFC," said ESPN vice president Jeroen Oerlemans.

"This is a great opportunity for us to introduce that to millions more and let them sample the programming ESPN has on offer."

Nokia's new Lumia smart phone will sponsor the weekend.

This weeks live football on Sky ESPN ADMC Canal+

Saturday 13th August
FA Premier League

Queens Park Rangers v Bolton Wanderers 3.00pm ADMC Sport
Blackburn Rovers v Wolves 3.00pm ADMC Sport
Fulham v Aston Villa 3.00pm ADMC Sport
Liverpool v Sunderland 3.00pm ADMC Sport, Canal+ Futbol Spain
Spurs v Everton 3.00pm ADMC Sport
Wigna v Norwich 3.00pm ADMC Sport
Newcastle United v Arsenal 5.30pm ESPN, ESPN HD, ADMC Sport

Sunday 14th August
FA Premier League

Stoke v Chelsea 1.30pm Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, ADMC Sport
West Brom v Man Utd 4.00pm Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, Sky 3D, ADMC Sport, Canal+ Spain

Monday 15th August
FA Premier League

Man City v Swansea 8.00pm Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, Sky 3D, ADMC Sport


More fixtures here

Live UK football on Sky, ESPN, ADMC and BBC and ITV for the 2011 / 2012 season

The English football season is less than 1 month away!

Here are the first weeks fixtures for the English Championship and Carling Cup...


Live English Football matches on Satellite TV (Sky, ESPN, ADMC) in Spain 2011/12
Friday 5th August 2011

English Football Championship

Hull City vs Blackpool, 1945, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD

Saturday 6th August 2011

English Football League 2

Wimbledon vs Bristol Rovers, 1245, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD

English Football Championship

Southamption vs Leeds United, 1720, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD

Sunday 7th August 2011

English Football Championship

West Ham United vs Cardiff, 1245, BBC1, BBC1HD, BBC Red Button Sports Streams

FA Community Shield

Manchester United vs Manchester City, 1500, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, Sky Sports 3D, Sport1 / DSF

Tuesday 9th August 2011

Carling Cup

Leeds United vs Bradford City, 1945, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD

Thursday 11th August 2011

Carling Cup

Sheffild Wednesday vs Blackpool, 1945, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD



Live football on Sky ESPN ADMC Sport on Satellite TV

ESPN Free Weekend - March 2011

ESPN’s Free Weekend

From 6am on Friday 4th March and running until 6am on Monday 7th March

ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN America and ESPN America HD will be available to all Sky TV viewers.

(The wording says "Sky Viewers", so I would assume this means those who have a Sky subscription, and this offer will not be available to "freesatfromsky" viewers...but you never know!)

It will also be available to all Virgin Media and TalkTalk viewers in the UK

There will be :
live Barclays Premier League (Manchester City vs Wigan)
Serie A football (Juventus vs AC Milan)
Aviva Premiership Rugby (two matches with Gloucester v Bath live on Saturday at 12:15pm, and Exeter v Northampton Saints on Sunday at 2:15pm.)
World Rally Championship, - second round live from from Mexico for the Rally Guanajuato on Sunday afternoon.


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Live UK football matches on satellite TV Spain - wc 16/10/2010

Live UK football matches on satellite TV Spain - wc 16/10/2010

Saturday 16th October 2010

English Premier League

Newcastle United vs Wigan - 1500 ADMC Sport

Wolves vs West Ham - 1500 ADMC Sport

Arsenal vs Birmingham City - 1500 ADMC Sport

Bolton vs Stoke City - 1500 ADMC Sport D+ Spain

Fulham vs Tottenham - 1500 ADMC Sport RTS 1 Senegal

Manchester United vs West Brom - 1500 ADMC Sport D+ Spain

English Championship

Middlesbrough vs Leeds United 1720 Sky Sports Sky Sports HD

English Premier League

Aston Villa vs Chelsea 1730 ADMC Sport, ESPN, ESPN HD, D+ Spain

Sunday 17th October 2010

English Premier League

Everton vs Liverpool - 1330 - Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, ADMC Sports

Blackpool vs Manchester City - 1600 - Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, ADMC Sports, D+ Spain

Monday 18th October 2010

English Premier League

Blackburn Rovers, vs Sunderland - 2000 - Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, ADMC Sports

Friday 23rd October 2010

English Championship

Bristol City vs QPR - 1945 Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD



This weekends LIVE football on GOL TV

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16

PREMIER LEAGUE: ARSENAL vs. BIRMINGHAM (16:00) LIVE

LIGA BBVA: AT. MADRID vs. GETAFE (18:00) DIRECTO LIVE

LIGA BBVA: FC BARCELONA vs. VALENCIA (20:00) DIRECTO LIVE


DOMINGO 17 DE OCTUBRE SUNDAY 17 OCTOBER

PREMIER LEAGUE: EVERTON vs. LIVERPOOL (14:30) DIRECTO .LIVE

LIGA ADELANTE: VALLADOLID vs. LAS PALMAS (17:00) LIVE

LIGA BBVA: ATHLETIC vs. ZARAGOZA (19:00) LIVE

LIGA FRANCESA: OLYM. LYON vs.LILLE (21:00) LIVE


LUNES 18 DE OCTUBRE MONDAY 18 OCTOBER

LIGA BBVA: HÉRCULES vs. VILLARREAL (21:00) DIRECTO LIVE



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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.

For more information please visit:

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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."

For more information please visit:

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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."


For more information please visit:

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English Football Premier League - Games on Sky and ESPN - Costa Blanca Spain

Live fixtures up to the end of November (ESPN games in italics):



AUGUST

Sat 14 Tottenham vs Man City 12.45pm

Sat 14 Chelsea v West Brom 5:30pm

Sun 15 Liverpool vs Arsenal 4pm

Mon 16 Man United vs Newcastle 8pm

Sat 21 Wigan vs Chelsea 5.15pm

Sun 22 Newcastle v Aston Villa 1:30pm

Sun 22 Fulham vs Man United 4pm

Mon 23 Man City vs Liverpool 8pm

Sat 28 Blackburn vs Arsenal 12.45pm

Sat 28 Manchester United v West Ham United 5:30pm

Sun 29 Bolton vs Birmingham 1.30pm

Sun 29 Aston Villa vs Everton 4pm

SEPTEMBER

Sun 12 Everton vs Man United 1.30pm

Sun 12 Birmingham vs Liverpool 4pm

Mon 13 Stoke vs Aston Villa 8pm

Sat 18 Stoke vs West Ham 12.45pm

Sat 18 Sunderland v Arsenal 5:30pm

Sun 19 Man United vs Liverpool 1.30pm

Sun 19 Chelsea vs Blackpool 4pm

Sat 25 Man City vs Chelsea 12.45pm

Sat 25 Bolton v Man United 5:30pm

Sun 26 Wolves vs Aston Villa 2pm

Sun 26 Newcastle vs Stoke 4.10pm

OCTOBER

Sun 3 Man City v Newcastle 1:30pm

Sun 3 Chelsea vs Arsenal 4pm

Mon 4 Wigan vs Wolves 8pm

Sat 16 Aston Villa v Chelsea 5:30pm

Sun 17 Everton vs Liverpool 1.30pm

Sun 17 Blackpool vs Man City 4pm

Mon 18 Blackburn vs Sunderland 8pm

Sat 23 Tottenham vs Everton 12.45pm

Sat 23 West Ham vs Newcastle 5.30pm

Sun 24 Stoke vs Man United 1.30pm

Sun 24 Man City vs Arsenal 4pm

Sat 30 Manchester United v Tottenham 5:30pm

Sun 31 Bolton vs Liverpool 1.30pm

Sun 31 Newcastle vs Sunderland 4pm

NOVEMBER

Mon 1 Blackpool vs West Brom 8pm

Sat 6 Bolton vs Spurs 12.45pm

Sun 7 Arsenal vs Newcastle 1.30pm

Sun 7 Liverpool vs Chelsea 4pm

Tue 9 West Ham vs West Brom 8pm

Wed 10 Man City vs Man United 8pm

Sat 13 Aston Villa vs Man United 12.45pm

Sat 13 Stoke v Liverpool 5:30pm

Sun 14 Everton vs Arsenal 2pm

Sun 14 Chelsea vs Sunderland 4.10pm

Sat 20 Liverpool v West Ham 5:30pm

Sun 21 Arsenal vs Tottenham 1.30pm

Sun 21 Fulham vs Man City 4pm

Mon 22 Sunderland vs Everton 8pm

Sat 27 Aston Villa vs Arsenal 12.45pm

Sun 28 Newcastle vs Chelsea 1.30pm

Sun 28 Tottenham vs Liverpool 4pm

TVE and Teledeporte do NOT have the Spanish TV rights for English Premiership football for the next few seasons. Canal+Futbol and GOLTV will be sharing the games, and you can expect about 5 live games each weekend, including those above and at elast one 3pm kickoff on Saturdays.
 
Other pay satellite TV packages are also available, like Sky Italia, Sky Germany, Nova, and ADMC (taken over from Showtime on Nilesat). At the moment it is thought that only ADMC have the rights to ALL games, although the others will have about the same as Canal+ and GOL TV, ie five live matches a weekend.

For more information please visit:


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