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Originally Posted by Kushan
It's impossible to know what the details are for each and every provider really, we're just guessing. As far as VM/Sky/etc is concerned though, probably not a lot will change. If they have a contract, those terms will be honoured. If a contract is up for renew, it would have been regardless of the takeover. Just wait and see, I suppose?
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It's impossible to know for sure but we do know that ESPN were already looking to exit from the UK market and sell off any remaining sports rights. It would make sense for them to plan that exit for when existing contracts are ending. Otherwise they would have to suffer the burden of early exit penalties. That was the logic behind my thinking.
In any event, ESPN has already announced that ESPN Classic is to close across Europe before BT takes over. It has also been stated that BT will only operate 1 channel with the ESPN brand, other rights purchased will be used on BT Sports branded channels. That only leaves a single channel, presumably ESPN America, covered by existing contractual agreements with VM. When asked, BT have stated that channel will not be sold separately but only as a part of the BT Sports suite.
As you suggest, we can only wait and see, but based on enforcing existing contracts, the best we could hope for would probably be an extended period for ESPN America in the XL package.