23 Live Matches per Season until 2013
The Premier League today awarded ESPN an exclusive live media rights package in Ireland for the next three seasons, through May of 2013. The agreement means ESPN will deliver fans in Ireland 23 exclusive matches each season.
“We are very pleased the Premiere League has awarded us these rights and we look forward to delivering great football to fans in Ireland and great value to our advertisers and distributors,” said Lynne Frank, ESPN Managing Director in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We are committed to developing our business and our connection to fans throughout Ireland and the UK through locally relevant programming and smart acquisitions. We have made significant strides this year, and with this agreement we take another big step.”
Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, said: “The Premier League is extremely pleased that ESPN have invested in our broadcast rights for seasons 2010/11 – 2012/13. We are confident that they will all continue to provide excellent coverage of the Barclays Premier League to our many fans across Ireland.”
The agreement means that ESPN will provide live, exclusive coverage of the same 23 matches across the whole of the UK and Ireland for the next three seasons.
In July, The Premiere League awarded ESPN exclusive, live Irish media rights to 46 matches for the 2009-2010 season. That followed and announcement in June that ESPN had been awarded exclusive UK live media rights for 46 Premiere League matches during the 2009-2010 season, and rights for exclusive live coverage of 23 matches for the following three seasons.
In December 2009, The Football Association and ESPN reached an agreement in principle on a multi-year rights deal for live, exclusive coverage of up to 25 FA Cup matches per season, beginning next season (2010-2011) and running through the 2013-2014 season.
ESPN UK features top live sports coverage, including top-flight soccer from the UK and around the world (Barclays Premier League, FA Cup, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Italian Serie A, UEFA Europa League, German Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Russian Premier League and MLS) as well as other top sports programming including UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship, Top 14 Orange Rugby, Australian Rules Football (AFL), NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball and more.
In the UK and the Republic of Ireland, ESPN is available on Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Top Up TV and Tiscali on the following channel numbers:
- Sky: Channel 417, HD – Channel 442 (UK and Ireland)
- Chorus NTL/UPC: 407 (UK and Ireland)
- Virgin Media: Channel 529, HD – Channel 530
- BT Vision: Channel 34
- Top Up TV: Channel 34
- Tiscali: Channel 555
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