ESPN wins Premiership games - 23rd Jun 2009 10:29pm
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ESPN is believed to have matched the £159m Setanta paid for the right to screen 23 Premier League games each season from 2010 onwards.
The American sports network, which is owned by Disney, paid significantly less than the £130m Setanta bid for next season's two packages of 46 games, tabling a successful offer of about £90m.
However, Setanta had already made downpayments of about £40m and sources close to the league claim it is not out of pocket, despite the slow death of the previous rights holder. A spokesman for ESPN declined to comment on the price paid.
Setanta could now be placed in administration as early as this week, although talks about saving the company are still continuing.
ESPN is believed to be drawing up plans to launch a new channel on Sky's satellite platform to show its Premier League games from next season.
An announcement is expected later this week, but a wholesale deal has been struck between the Disney-owned sports network and BSkyB and industry sources say a standalone channel will be available on Sky's Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) before the new football season begins.
ESPN currently has two channels, ESPN Classic, a basic pay service which shows repeats of English sporting events including top-flight football, international rugby and cricket; and ESPN America, a premium subscription channel which screens US sport including American football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball.
The company will not seek to emulate Setanta's business model, which centred on selling subscriptions direct to customers, choosing instead to use Sky's expertise and infrastructure to market the channel showing live Premier League action to the satellite company's existing base of almost 10 million subscribers, about 6 million of whom pay for its sports package.
ESPN is also expected to strike similar deals with other UK pay-TV operators, including cable company Virgin Media and BT Vision, the phone company's broadband TV service.
The American sports network, which is owned by Disney, paid significantly less than the £130m Setanta bid for next season's two packages of 46 games, tabling a successful offer of about £90m.
However, Setanta had already made downpayments of about £40m and sources close to the league claim it is not out of pocket, despite the slow death of the previous rights holder. A spokesman for ESPN declined to comment on the price paid.
Setanta could now be placed in administration as early as this week, although talks about saving the company are still continuing.
ESPN is believed to be drawing up plans to launch a new channel on Sky's satellite platform to show its Premier League games from next season.
An announcement is expected later this week, but a wholesale deal has been struck between the Disney-owned sports network and BSkyB and industry sources say a standalone channel will be available on Sky's Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) before the new football season begins.
ESPN currently has two channels, ESPN Classic, a basic pay service which shows repeats of English sporting events including top-flight football, international rugby and cricket; and ESPN America, a premium subscription channel which screens US sport including American football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball.
The company will not seek to emulate Setanta's business model, which centred on selling subscriptions direct to customers, choosing instead to use Sky's expertise and infrastructure to market the channel showing live Premier League action to the satellite company's existing base of almost 10 million subscribers, about 6 million of whom pay for its sports package.
ESPN is also expected to strike similar deals with other UK pay-TV operators, including cable company Virgin Media and BT Vision, the phone company's broadband TV service.
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