ESPN in the UK

• ESPN America HD Launches in Netherlands
• ESPN America, ESPN Classic and Video-On Demand Services Included in Deals

Liberty Global’s European cable operations  in Germany (Unitymedia and Kabel BW), Netherlands (UPC), Austria (UPC) and Switzerland (upc cablecom) have reached agreements with ESPN for carriage of sports channels. With a combination of renewals and new launches, ESPN America HD, ESPN America and ESPN Classic will be available to hundreds of thousands of European households that get their television service from UPC companies.

In the Netherlands, ESPN and UPC Netherlands have renewed their existing ESPN America agreement and are launching ESPN America HD.In central Europe, Unitymedia and Kabel BW (Germany), UPC Austria and  upc cablecom (Switzerland) have each renewed agreements to deliver ESPN America and ESPN Classic to viewers. Upc  cablecom also carries ESPN America HD.

The agreements also will allow ESPN and the individual Liberty Global platforms to collaborate around video-on-demand content for current or future VOD services. ESPN will also work with the local-market teams on collaborative marketing,  

Murray Barnett, vice president, sports channels and syndication, ESPN EMEA, said “For years we have had a great and growing relationship with Liberty Global Europe’s platforms, and this agreement is an extension of the collaboration and mutual growth. We’re thrilled to continue the rollout of amazing HD sports to more homes across Europe, and to work collaboratively with Liberty Global companies and platforms to serve or explore video-on-demand services.”

LIBERTY GLOBAL EUROPE

Liberty Global Europe provides video, broadband internet, and voice services in 11 European countries under the brands UPC, Unitymedia and Kabel BW (Germany), and Telenet (Belgium), and digital programming & services through Chellomedia, a world class multimedia content provider. Liberty Global’s European headquarters in Amsterdam is home to its technological development, network management, and product development teams. It is also the location of Liberty Global’s European distribution center, Chello  DMC (Digital Media Centre). Chello DMC is the source of digital television for millions of households in Europe, in and outside of Liberty Global’s footprint.

In each of Liberty Global’s European markets, local affiliate operations benefit from the company’s global scale and centralized technology procurement, combined with its commitment to locally managed culture and content environments.

ESPN AMERICA / ESPN AMERICA HD

ESPN America HD leverage’s the sport’s media company’s position as both a global technology leader and as the leading player in American sport, ESPN America features more than 80 percent of its programming in true, native HD – the highest percentage of any pan-regional sports channel in Europe.  It televises the very best of American sports, direct form the US, as well as bringing viewers ESPN’s award-winning original news and information shows.  Highlights of programming on ESPN America HD include*:

• NFL:  fans of American football get up to six live games each week during the regular season, all in HD.  The schedule includes games on Sunday (including Sunday Night Football) and ESPN’s signature programme, Monday Night Football, among the longest running and most-celebrated sports events on television. ESPN recently announced an extension to its international television rights for the NFL that runs through 2021.
• MLB:  baseball fans can see more than 260 regular season MLB games per season, the MLB All-Star Game, plus the MLB playoffs and the World Series, all on ESPN America.  
• NHL: Ice hockey fans can see more than 100 NHL games throughout the season on ESPN America, with the top hockey players from around the world facing off against each other nightly.
• NCAA College Basketball and American Football:  ESPN America delivers hundreds of live college basketball and American football games, including live coverage of March Madness^® – the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament and the BCS Championship Bowl games, which decides the College Football National Champion each January.
• X Games: ESPN America brings complete live coverage of the X Games Los Angeles, Winter X Games Aspen and Winter X Games Tignes to viewers. X Games features the planet’s top action sports athletes competing in the greatest action sports competitions. As part of its expansion to six annual events around the world, X Games has named nine cities as finalists to host and X Games event from 2013 to 2015. Among them are Munich, Barcelona and Lisbon.
• Award-winning Original Programmes:  ESPN America also brings sport fans the acclaimed news, highlights and analysis shows from the US, including ESPN’s signature, world-renowned SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown, ESPN NFL Primetime, ESPN Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live, NBA Tonight and Baseball Tonight.

ESPN has reached more than a dozen new distribution deals with platform partners in Europe for distribution of HD networks, led by ESPN America HD, bringing crystal clear HD sports to millions of homes. 

ESPN CLASSIC

Since 2002, ESPN Classic has brought fans sport’s greatest moments, memories and legends from the world’s most famous and iconic events. Bringing context and perspective to the contemporary sporting landscape, ESPN Classic offers viewers a unique insight to the heritage of sport. With a new look and feel introduced a year ago in March 2011, ESPN Classic has continued to evolve and deliver fans an extensive line up of archival programming and award-winning documentaries which has complemented fans enjoyment of some of the world’s major sporting events, such as the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championships, boxing’s greatest fights and fighters, Formula 1, Tour de France, Six Nations Rugby and Rugby World Cup, international cricket, Moto GP, the Barclays Premier League and more.

 

With the UEFA Euro 2012 edging ever closer, ESPN Classic celebrates the tournament’s greatest moments with more than two months of dedicated programming that provides context to the coming tournament and builds fans’ excitement of one of the world’s biggest sporting events. All the action kicks off in April when ESPN Classic will be providing viewers an entire month of official UEFA documentaries and dedicated programming on the greatest players, moments and matches from its fifty-two year history.

The series begins with UEFA – The Story of the European Championships 1960 & 1964: The First Steps. The documentary traces the tournament’s opening chapter, looking at the origins of the championship, and the infamous vision and dream of Henri Delaunay, one of the chief architects behind the creation of the European Football Championships. 

The series continues with documentaries on the 1968 and 1972 championships, as the competition began to grow in popularity, before 1976: Panenka’s Penalty. The programme tells the story of the last tournament open to just four teams – it would end in a dramatic fashion when Antonin Panenka executed one of the most famous spot-kicks in the competition’s history. His confident chip past an already committed goalkeeper was then a novelty but would soon become familiar to the footballing world. The European Championships of 1988 brought us the Dutch Masters – a team oozing class, Rinus Michels’ Holland side kept up the Total Football mantra laid down by the likes of Johan Cruyff to claim a trophy in style. Marco van Basten, UEFA Euro 1988’s top scorer, hit a memorable volley in the final against the USSR, which is still hailed as one of the finest goals of all time. 1988: Dutch Masters airs on Wednesday 18^th April at 11:05pm.

Behind the catchphrase, ‘it’s coming home’, football fever across England was in patriotic full-flow throughout UEFA Euro 1996. The home team’s most memorable victory came against the Netherlands — a resounding 4-1 victory, courtesy of manager Terry Venables’ infamous S.A.S partnership (Shearer and Sheringham). England defeated Spain in a penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals against Germany, but failed to reach the final by the narrowest of margins. Gareth Southgate’s miss saw England suffer yet another penalty shootout loss. 1996: Fussball Comes Home airs on Friday 20^th April at 11:05.

UEFA Euro 2000 produced what many consider some of the greatest football played in the competition’s history, thanks to a collection of Europe’s modern greats all delivering their best at the same time. 2000: Allez Les Bleus Pt Deux, airing Monday 23^rd April at 11:10pm, takes a look back at a tournament full of technical excellence. France were the undisputed kings of European football, led by then FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane. The French captain was at his best throughout the tournament – most notably against Portugal in the semi-finals where he orchestrated the game from start to finish and scored the winner to put France through to final against Italy.  

The series concludes with 2008: Viva España, which will be broadcast on Wednesday 25^th April at 11:05pm. The recent success of Spain has been built on their mesmerising style of play and has led them to a position as the dominant force in international football – which was on display in UEFA Euro 2008. Spain’s supremacy was on display as they swept aside Russia in the semi-finals. The Final – billed as a clash of Germany’s efficiency and power versus Spain’s fluidity and creativity, saw Spain’s Fernando Torres fire them to UEFA Euro 2008 glory with a 1-0 win against Germany in Vienna.

ESPN Classic continues to relive the greatest sports moments across Europe, Middle East & Africa

Since ESPN launched its first television channel in Europe in 2002, ESPN Classic has brought fans some of sport’s greatest moments, memories and legends from the world’s most famous and iconic events. Bringing context and perspective to the contemporary sporting landscape, ESPN Classic continues to offer its viewers a unique insight to the heritage of sport. During the last decade, ESPN Classic has delivered fans an extensive line up of programming which has complemented and added to sports fans’ enjoyment of some of the world’s major sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, the Tour de France, France’s Six Nations Grand Slam triumph in 2010, as well as the country’s hosting of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

ESPN Classic aired its first programme in France on March 4, 2002, screening the 1983 French Open Final between Yannick Noah and Mats Wilander. ESPN Classic is now among the leading sports channels in EMEA, with five networks (UK, French, Italian, pan-European and Middle Eastern feeds) available in more than 40 countries, securing agreements with global sporting associations, such as FIFA, UEFA, IRB and movie film production companies, such as Paramount, Fox and Warner.

Since launching in Europe, ESPN has continued to build on the foundation that ESPN Classic has provided, and now also brings French sports fans the very best of American sport on ESPN America, and in collaboration with Canal+ has brought the Winter X Games to Tignes, France – the first Winter X Games event ever held outside of the US.

“After a decade of broadcasting in France, ESPN Classic has earned its place in the minds of sports fans by providing viewers with a diverse range of timeless sporting moments around contemporary events. This has evolved along the way to create a unique identity that enlightens the viewers’ experience. It has established an identity as a place where fans can find context and a celebration of the culture, legends and heritage of sport” said Ross Hair, Managing Director, ESPN, Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Following the new look and feel of the channel that was established in March 2011, ESPN Classic has continued to evolve by meeting growing demands and cultural challenges, not only in France, but across pan-European territories. Results in 2011 included year-on-year growth in excess of 10%^[1] (6% UK)^[2] – with Germany more than doubling its viewership (51%)^[3] in the second half of 2011. Portugal achieved its highest ever reach for ESPN Classic with an average 547,000 individuals in the last quarter of 2011^[4].

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[1] Q3 2010 v Q4 2011 EMEA viewership figures  (BARB)

[2] 2010 v 2011 UK reach figures (BARB)

[3] H1 v H2 2011 Germany monthly reach figures (BARB)

[4] Q4 2011 Portugal monthly reach figures (BARB)

- Popular ESPNscrum fantasy rugby game returns alongside extensive tournament coverage 

- ESPN Classic offers legendary matches from past RBS Six Nations Tournaments

 

ESPNscrum and ESPN Classic are combining to deliver an extensive RBS Six Nations offering on TV, online, social media and mobile.

ESPNscrum will provide detailed coverage of the tournament with news, live scores and text commentary for every match as well as reports, reaction, analysis and player profiles. ESPNscrum’s Fan Zone blog will allow fans to comment and share their take on the tournament. In addition, stadia profiles will be available to provide users with key facts and the full history behind each of the tournament’s iconic venues.

The ESPNscrum Fantasy Rugby – 2012 International Game returns this season, and will be free for all ESPNscrum users. The overall winner of the game – the entrant whose team has scored the highest number of points throughout the tournament* – will be rewarded with a 32-inch Panasonic HD TV.

In addition, fans will be able to enter a competition via ESPNscrum’s Facebook page for the chance to win RBS Six Nations match tickets. Twitter users will also be able to keep up-to-date with the best RBS Six Nations tweeters via the ESPNscrum homepage. Selected tweets from various rugby players, coaches and journalists will be chosen to feature on the website’s homepage via a dedicated rugby Twitter feed to ensure fans are alerted of all the latest tournament news and gossip. Further expert analysis and insight will come from Austin Healey and Ben Kay, the ex-England internationals and ESPN rugby TV analysts.

Tom Gleeson, vice president, digital media, ESPN International, said: “ESPN is dedicated to serving rugby fans worldwide – on multiple devices. The return of ESPNscrum’s fantasy game and its extensive RBS Six Nations coverage reinforces our efforts in providing rugby fans with the best possible content.” 

 

ESPN Classic’s RBS Six Nations coverage will mark the beginning of the tournament by airing three legendary encounters between England and Scotland – headlined by a 2006 match which, for the first time since 2000, saw Scotland win the Calcutta Cup. That match will be aired on Saturday 4^th February – the opening day of the tournament – at 1pm, the same day as the teams face each other in this year’s competition. Ahead of the key matches of each weekend, the channel will relive classic matches with the teams involved.

ESPN Classic’s Grand Slam Winners series will air throughout the RBS Six Nations and will start by looking back at the 2005 tournament on Monday 6^th February at 9:00pm. The series is presented by Mark Durden-Smith, host of ESPN’s Aviva Premiership Rugby coverage, with Gareth Thomas (ex Wales Captain) and Ben Kay as they remember great cleansweeps including England’s 2003 victory and Wales’ 2005 triumph.

Jeroen Oerlemans, Vice-President TV Channels, ESPN EMEA, said: “ESPN Classic’s RBS Six Nations programming reflects our dedication to rugby and its fans. The passion and expertise that we show throughout our televised Aviva Premiership Rugby coverage will be demonstrated by the RBS Six Nations programming offered by ESPN Classic around this season’s tournament.”

 

-ENDS-

 

ESPN Rugby Presenters Look Ahead to RBS Six Nations 2012

 

How do you think England will fare in the Six Nations after a disappointing 2011 World Cup?

‘It does depend on England’s player selection and whether the new guys can quickly step up to plate, but with the new coaching set up and with a backs against the wall attitude, I think they’ll be in the shake up for the title.’

-       Ben Kay, ESPN rugby commentator and former England international  

 ‘After spending the best part of two months on the other side of the world waiting for the real England to turn up, I’m not prepared to give up hope just yet.’

-       Nick Mullins, ESPN lead rugby commentator

 ‘Us England supporters are going on an epic European adventure into the unknown. My hunch is the relative inexperience of the team will mean a mid-table finish but I would be delighted to be proved wrong.’

-       Mark Durden-Smith, ESPN lead rugby presenter

 

Which match-up will be the game of the tournament?

‘We’ll have to wait until the penultimate match of the tournament to get its most poignant match. Wales against France on the final Saturday in Cardiff will bring back painful memories of semi-final Saturday in Auckland for the Welsh at last year’s World Cup.’

-       Nick Mullins, ESPN lead rugby commentator

 

‘England v Wales is the game I’m waiting for. Wales will be favourites at Twickenham because of the World Cup, but I think they’d rather be underdogs. Both teams have a lot of young talent and England will be determined to perform after a disappointing World Cup.’

-       Ben Kay, ESPN rugby commentator and former England international

 

‘Having married a Welsh woman I always look forward to the straining of family relations when England play Wales. But this year one game stands out….the final Saturday in Cardiff. Wales and France meeting for the first time since the World Cup. Magnifique!’

-       Mark Durden-Smith, ESPN lead rugby presenter

 

 

Which player is your ‘one-to-watch’?

‘George North and Manu Tuilagi for me are the two most exciting attacking players in the northern hemisphere at the moment. Both of these players can have a massive impact on any game they play in and we saw this in the World Cup.’

-       Ben Kay, ESPN rugby commentator and former England international

 

‘Irishman, Sean O’Brien, stunned me with his power and athleticism in the World Cup and might just be a pick for the forthcoming Lions tour before the end of the tournament.’

-       Nick Mullins, ESPN lead rugby commentator

 

‘My eye is always trained most keenly on the men in white shirts, so I am hoping David Strettle gets his chance. I sense there’s a lot more to come from the Saracens winger. Pick him please!’

-        Mark Durden-Smith, ESPN lead rugby presenter

Click images to download high-resolution versions of ESPN Classic’s new on-air identity graphics,

commissioned specially for the channel from a group of international artists.

ESPN today announced that ESPN Classic will be unveiling a refined look and feel to the channel. Featuring a contemporary and innovative approach to on-air graphics, a host of new content and a refined programming strategy, the additions will expand on the wealth of existing content that relives the greatest moments from sporting history.

Ross Hair, Managing Director, ESPN Europe, Middle East & Africa, said:  “With nearly a decade of heritage in Europe, ESPN Classic has earned a place in the minds of sports fans and has evolved along the way. The enhanced look and feel of the channel aims to better reflect its identity as a place where fans can find context, and a celebration of the culture, legends and heritage of sport. Coupled with the refined programming approach and the new content, it reinforces ESPN Classic’s position as a part of the growth and vision of our business in the region, and our ongoing strategy to create more continuity between the channels and brands in our portfolio.”

Read more…

ESPN to Launch its First High Definition Channel in Europe 
ESPN and BSkyB Confirm Distribution, Retail and Ad Sales Deals

ESPN plan to launch a new channel in the UK on 3rd August called ‘ESPN,’ which will televise 46 Barclays Premier League matches this coming season, it was announced today by Lynne Frank, Managing Director, ESPN for Europe, Middle East and Africa.  Frank also announced the channel will be made available in both standard definition (SD) and high-definition (HD), making the UK based premium sports channel the company’s first HD channel in Europe.

Read more…