Originally Posted by richard1960 (Post 35270399)

Thats because ESPN and SKY have a close relationship in the uk denphone anybody who thinks ESPN in the uk is going to take on SKY sports is only entertaining wishful thinking,do not belive me just look at the evidence so far.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...cup-sky-sports

From the article in the link.

Wolff says ESPN is happy for Sky to be the senior partner in the UK. "There will be markets where we bid against each other; there are other territories where we will not. You could have a very good second position in a market if that's the best business model you can build at that time." He adds: "We have a complex, multifaceted relationship with Sky [but] complex relationships aren't new to us. We just have to manage that."


Now does that sound like a company that is going to bid against SKY for major sporting rights in the uk.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35270409)

But it would be good for competition if someone took Sky on.

Originally Posted by Jameseh (Post 35270467)

ESPN are making a loss over here which is not a surprise seeing as its free for us and still much cheaper than Sky Sports on other platforms so its unlikely they're going to be spending big money regardless of their relationship with Sky.

Originally Posted by Chad (Post 35270631)

For me ESPN has turned out to be a real disappointment. I'm happy for the Amercian sports fans on this site as the coverage of basketball, Amercian football etc will be right up their street. I think I was expecting too much from them. I really hoped they'd be as good as Setanta Sports. Setanta aimed way too high, but they did give SKY a few bloody noses when it came to snapping up content.

Originally Posted by m0j00 (Post 35270269)

Just sky living at the moment but im sure others will follow.

Originally Posted by Chad (Post 35270631)

For me ESPN has turned out to be a real disappointment. I'm happy for the Amercian sports fans on this site as the coverage of basketball, Amercian football etc will be right up their street. I think I was expecting too much from them. I really hoped they'd be as good as Setanta Sports. Setanta aimed way too high, but they did give SKY a few bloody noses when it came to snapping up content.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35270707)

Well we shall see next year when l think the EPL rights come on the market again.

Originally Posted by richard1960 (Post 35270709)

My guess would be ESPN will end up with probably two packages,keeping SKY happy they still have the bulk whist doing enough to say the PL coverage is dispersed between a couple of providers,and therefore the EU will be happy.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35270713)

You could well be right Richard but it would be nice is ESPN bid for some of the other sports rights.

Originally Posted by Jameseh (Post 35270716)

They need more channels to begin with. American sports are often being broadcast on standard ESPN and not America so there is already an excess of content for one channel.

Originally Posted by richard1960 (Post 35270717)

Yes thats a very good point i wonder why they could not have the american sports on ESPN america,leaving the standard channel to broadcast more uk/european content.

But they as you suggest need more channels to make a proper job of it.