ESPN America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ESPN America | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 5 December 2002 |
| Closed | 3 August 2009 |
| Owned by | ESPN |
| Audience share | N/A (Data Unknown, ) |
| Formerly called | North American Sports Network (NASN) (until 31 January 2009) |
| Website | www.espnamerica.com |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| TopUp TV | Channel 34 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 417 |
| Canal Digital | Channel 23 |
| Canal Digitaal Satelliet | Channel 33 |
| CanalSat | Channel 95 |
| n | Channel 65 |
| SKY Italia | Channel 213 |
| D-SMART Turkey | Channel 49 |
| meo Satélite Portugal | Channel 32 |
| ZON TV Cabo Portugal | Channel 28 |
| TVTEL Portugal | Channel ??? |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 533 |
| UPC Austria | Channel 303 |
| UPC Ireland | Channel 410 |
| UPC Romania | Channel 210 (digital with DVR) Channel 80 (digital) |
| Cablecom | Channel 104 Channel 173 (digital CH-D) |
| Com Hem Sweden | Channel 110 |
| Ziggo Netherlands | Channel 412 |
| Cabovisão Portugal | Channel 69 |
| Kabel Deutschland | Channel 411 |
| ZON TV Cabo Portugal | Channel 28 |
| TVTEL Portugal | Channel 26 |
| UPC Netherlands | Channel 204 |
| IPTV over ADSL | |
| Telia Sweden | Channel 77 |
| meo Portugal | Channel 32 |
| PrimeTV Cyprus | |
| KPN Netherlands | Channel 212 |
| Síminn Iceland | |
| P&T Luxembourg | Channel 450 |
| BT Vision | Channel 34 |
ESPN America is a European sports network, focusing on professional sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched in December 2002 as NASN (the North American Sports Network), ESPN America broadcasts a selection of top North American professional and collegiate sports leagues including Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), National Football League (NFL), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Canadian Football League (CFL), 24 hours a day on digital cable and digital satellite television. The channel has been owned by ESPN since March 2007, formerly owned by Benchmark Capital Europe and Setanta Sports,[1] and has been known as ESPN America since 1 February 2009.
Contents |
[edit] ESPN America programming
Programming on ESPN America varies from country to country. Currently, the channel operates three feeds throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and the Scandinavian countries events currently seen on ESPN America include MLB, the College World Series, NCAA college football and college basketball, the NHL and the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship (Frozen Four) plus the Arena Football League, Major League Lacrosse, and the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Final Four. In other countries it also includes NFL.
NASN paid £11.6m in March 2006 for the rights to show ten live MLB games a week.[2]
In 2006, ESPN programmes, including Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn, The Sports Reporters and Pardon the Interruption were dropped from the schedule as the contract between NASN and ESPN ended. However, they returned from 1 April 2007 when the contract was renewed.[3]
ESPN America also airs other special single-sport programmes, such as College Football Live, College GameDay, NHL on the Fly, NBA Fastbreak and NASCAR Now.
[edit] Sale to ESPN
In late 2006, former owners Benchmark Capital Europe and Setanta Sports agreed to sell the network to ESPN for €70m.[4] The sale was completed in March 2007 but the network continued to be part of the Setanta Sports Pack on satellite television until June 2009 when Sentanta UK went into administration.[1][5] The network became known as ESPN America on 1 February 2009 to coincide with Super Bowl XLIII. The channel will continue to provide its current lineup of North American sports programming.[6]
[edit] UK Market
On 7 July 2009, ESPN announced that ESPN America would be closed down in the UK and be replaced with ESPN, which will launch on the 3rd August 2009. [7] ESPN will continue to show some of the US sports previously available on ESPN America, and in HD. Talk's about updateing coverage are underway
It is thought that ESPN America could return at a later date as a separate UK channel in another EPG slot.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b NASN. ESPN TO ACQUIRE NASN. Press release. http://www.nasn.com/content/nasn/portal.nsf/content/espnrelease. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ Sabbagh, Dan (13 March 2006). "NASN to show live baseball in Europe". The Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article658043.ece. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ "ESPN Programming Is Back On NASN". ESPN America. http://www.nasn.com/content/nasn/portal.nsf/content/ESPNprogramming?open®ion=uk. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ Hancock, Ciaran (3 December 2006). "Ireland: TV3 grabs Setanta stake". The Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article658043.ece. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ "Overview of Setanta Sports Pack". Setanta.com. http://www.setanta.com/SetantaSportsPack/Overview.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
- ^ Welsh, James (2 October 2008). "NASN to become ESPN America". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a131634/nasn-to-become-espn-america.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-02.
- ^ "ESPN will launch new channel to show Premier League games". The Guardian. 2009-07-07. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/07/espn-premier-league-football-channel-setanta-bskyb.
[edit] External links
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