Many Scottish Premier League (SPL) clubs will be breathing a sigh of relief today with news that Sky and ESPN have teamed up in a successful bid to screen 60 live SPL matches a season for the next 5 years.
The Sky-ESPN deal replaces the one that Setanta had in place and although the contract is reported to be of similar worth, £13m per year, the SPL clubs are set to get half of what they would’ve received with the fallen Irish broadcaster.
The ever blossoming Celtic and Rangers relationship is set to continue live on ESPN.
Scotland’s 12 top-flight clubs – some of whom were facing severe financial problems without a TV deal – voted on the proposal at the league’s annual meeting at Hampden Park on Thursday.
If you read between the lines of the deal you can see how crucial this was for the future of the SPL.
Not only was there a vote on the deal, it was a unanimous decision between all the clubs to agree on the rights despite the fact that they would only be getting half the revenue that they would’ve received from Setanta, revenue that may have already been allocated and spent by some clubs in the transfer window.
So with that in mind here are some quick tips on where and when you can get ESPN.
The new ESPN channel will be launched on the 3rd of August 2009.
They will show 46 live Barclays Premier League games for the 09/10 season onwards and 60 live SPL games a year for the next five years with other content to follow.
The new ESPN channel is likely to be around £12/month for non Sky Sports Subscribers and £9/month for Sky Sports Subscribers but this may change.
The new ESPN channel will replace ESPN America on Sky’s program guide.
ESPN is currently only available on Sky but should also be available on the other service providers platforms soon.
Customers cannot sign up to the channel yet but will be able to once it’s launched.
If you would like any more information on ESPN or Sky or, if you want to compare digital TV packages or broadband and home phone bundles in a matter of seconds click here or give one of our digital experts a call on 0800 466 1047.