[andy_m]

There's a difference between having access to Disney's cash, a company who don't have a desire to have a strong foothold in the broadcasting British sport in Britain, and BT's cash-a company who, through BT Vision and you view, have demonstrated a desire to be an important part of this country's communication media. Disney, and by extension ESPN, might have considerably more money than Virgin, but if the old adage that you have to speculate to accumulate is true, I would suggest that Virgin had more to gain by spending their's than Disney did. Either way, what's important is that neither ESPN or Virgin saw the value in making a serious effort to acquire these rights, and BT did.