Unrivalled season long coverage with live and exclusive games on ESPN America, ESPN and ESPN360.com including the NHL Premiere games from Stockholm & Helsinki
28th September 2009: A new National Hockey League (NHL) season begins on Thursday 1st October live at midnight on ESPN America and for the first time in the UK in high definition on new channel ESPN HD when the Montreal Canadiens visit the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This is the first of over 300 live and as-live NHL games to feature on ESPN’s UK television channels during the 2009/10 season, including the four-game CompuWare NHL Premiere games in Stockholm and Helsinki. ESPN America, ESPN and ESPN HD will show the best of the regular season, play-offs and Stanley Cup Final games, as part of their most comprehensive coverage of the world’s premier ice hockey league in the UK ever. In addition, over 1,000 games a season – around 40 games a week – will be available to watch online via subscription at ESPN360.com, either live or on-demand.
This season’s CompuWare NHL Premiere games in Europe come from Stockholm with Detroit Red Wings facing St Louis Blues and Helsinki with Chicago Blackhawks against Florida Panthers. ESPN America will broadcast live double headers on both Friday 2nd October and Saturday 3rd October from 5pm. After the games end in Europe, the NHL heads back to North America where every team will aim to make it to the play-offs and a chance of winning the championship.
Earlier this year, the Pittsburgh Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup for the third time in their history after a tense series that ended 4-3 against the Detroit Red Wings and both those teams are expected to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. With at least seven games a week shown on ESPN America, ESPN, ESPN HD and ESPN360.com throughout the season, there will be more than enough NHL to satisfy even the most hungry hockey fans. The live action will be accompanied by nightly coverage with NHL On The Fly on ESPN America, the NHL Network’s signature show bringing fans NHL highlights from all the games that night insuring viewers will always be up-to-date on all the latest action from around the league.
Jeroen Oerlemans, ESPN, Vice President, TV Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa commented: “We are very proud to broadcast the NHL Premiere games live from the Globe Arena in Sweden and Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, the home country of several high profile NHL players. With a big expat community in the UK, we know that fans will also appreciate our authentic coverage for the 300 other games which come directly from the arenas in the US and Canada. We also hope that once sports fans see the quality of our programming from the NHL and other North-American leagues, they will regularly tune into ESPN America, ESPN (HD) and ESPN360.com.”
For more information on subscribing to ESPN America & ESPN HD,
visit espnamerica.com/espn.co.uk or call 0844 257 7442
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The 2009/10 NHL season gets underway on ESPN America, ESPN & ESPN360.com from midnight Thursday 1st October:
NHL season start on ESPN America Thursday 1st October at midnight LIVE – Montreal Canadiens @ Toronto Maple Leafs [live in HD on ESPN] Friday 2nd October at 3am LIVE – San Jose Sharks @ Colorado Avalanche The CompuWare NHL Premiere from Stockholm & Helsinki on ESPN America Friday 2nd October at 5pm LIVE – Chicago Blackhawks vs Florida Panthers (Helsinki) Friday 2nd October at 8pm LIVE – Detroit Red Wings vs St Louis Blues (Stockholm) Saturday 3rd October at 5pm LIVE – Florida Panthers vs Chicago Blackhawks (Helsinki) Saturday 3rd October at 8pm LIVE – St Louis Blues vs Detroit Red Wings (Stockholm) Other forthcoming fixtures on ESPN America Monday 5th October at midnight LIVE – New York Rangers @ New Jersey Devils [live in HD on ESPN] Tuesday 6th October at 3am LIVE – Columbus Blue Jackets @ Vancouver Canucks [live in HD on ESPN] Tuesday 6th October at midnight LIVE – Washington Capitals @ Philadelphia Flyers Additional NHL on ESPN Saturday 3rd October at 7am – Detroit Red Wings vs St Louis Blues (Stockholm) ***REPEAT***
ESPN America: Sky Channel 430 & Virgin Media Channel 531 ESPN: Sky 417 / HD 442, Virgin 529 / HD 530, BT Vision / Top Up TV 34, Tiscali 555 ESPN360.com
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ESPN is available on Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Top Up TV, Tiscali and UPC (in Ireland) on the following channel numbers:
Sky: ESPN (channel 417), ESPN HD (channel 442)
Virgin Media: ESPN (channel 529), ESPN HD (channel 530)
BT Vision: ESPN (channel 34)
Top UP TV: ESPN (channel 34)
Tiscali: ESPN (channel 555)
UPC (in Ireland) ESPN (channel 407)
ESPN America is available on Sky and Virgin Media on the following channel numbers:
Sky: ESPN America (channel 430)
Virgin Media: ESPN America (channel 531)
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About ESPN America
ESPN America is dedicated to North-American sports, and broadcasts more than 800 live and as-live sports events each year with more than 300 live games from the National Hockey League; 250 live Major League Baseball games; as well as NCAA college football and basketball. The network now reaches more than 14 million households across 43 countries in Europe and a further 19 countries in the Middle East.
About ESPN
Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN, Inc. is the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
ESPN International has grown to include ownership — in whole or in part — of over 45 television networks outside of the United States, as well as a variety of brand extension businesses, which allow ESPN to reach fans in 200 countries and territories. In the UK, ESPN now includes a portfolio of television and digital brands including ESPN Classic, ESPN America, ESPNcricinfo.com, ESPNscrum.com, ESPNsoccernet.com, ESPN360.com and Racing-live.com.
On 22 June 2009, ESPN was awarded the exclusive rights to 46 Live Barclays Premier League matches in the 2009-10 Season and 23 matches a season from 2010-2013. ESPN plan to launch a new channel in the UK on 3rd August called ‘ESPN. On 16 July ESPN was awarded exclusive live rights to Clydesdale Bank Premier League games for the next five seasons, showing 30 live games each season across the UK and Ireland, starting with the 2009-10 campaign this August.
ESPN Classic Sport now has five networks (UK, French, Italian, pan-European and Middle Eastern feeds) available in over 40 countries, and ESPN America has rights to show NFL, NHL, MLB and NCAA Football and Basketball across Europe, available in 43 countries. Online, Soccernet is the destination of choice for football fans worldwide. ESPN acquired cricinfo.com – the world’s leading cricket website – and scrum.com – a leading rugby news, features and information portal – in summer 2007. ESPN360.com – the company’s signature broadband service – launched in Europe in January 2008. In August 2008, ESPN acquired the world’s leading independent motor racing website, Racing-Live.com.
