General : ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by smallclone

This is massive news. I am staggerred that they have chosen to break away the English Heineken Cup games. This has huge implications for Sky sports.

And huge implications for pay per view. As far as I'm cocnerned anyway.

Now this is a temptation to me to look at what BT has to offer.

[smallclone]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Now this is a temptation to me to look at what BT has to offer.

Me too. Big time.

I could live without (some) football. But not rugby, especially Heineken Cup. This is proper game changing.

Interesting though that the English clubs seemed to have brokered a deal with BT behind the backs of sky and the ERC. Where does that leave the rest of us?

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Welcome the new contender to the Sporting arena BT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...redirect=false

In my opinion the writings on the wall for ESPN.

I totally agree MM mate writing on wall for ESPN in uk now can see espn being removed from xl pack at end of the football season

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Welcome the new contender to the Sporting arena BT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...redirect=false

In my opinion the writings on the wall for ESPN.

Agreed I think we will see a slow with drawl from the UK market with may be just ESPN America surviving.

Maybe BT will cripple ESPN to a degree where they buy them?

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Maybe BT will cripple ESPN to a degree where they buy them?

That is very possible. I can see Ray Stubbs on BT channel.

I hope we somehow end up with it in the XL pack again, I couldn't see myself paying any more for TV.

[muppetman11]

The current NFL Monday night deal with the BBC only lasts a year , so BT could potentially acquire those rights also.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Welcome the new contender to the Sporting arena BT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...redirect=false

In my opinion the writings on the wall for ESPN.

For once l agree with you.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Maybe BT will cripple ESPN to a degree where they buy them?

A Disney company - I doubt it.
However that does not mean a withdrawal from the UK market is not on the cards

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

I hope we somehow end up with it in the XL pack again, I couldn't see myself paying any more for TV.

I can't see it happening.

http://www.btlife.bt.com/entertainme...otball-rights/

"How much will the channel cost / will this mean I end up paying more for Premier League football?

Our objective is to widen the enjoyment of Premier League football and make it less dependent on signing up to an expensive pay TV package."

That to me suggests they have no intention of the channel going into the XL package with Virgin.

Oh I know there isn't a chance in hell, but they can always offer it on smaller packages individually.

[muppetman11]

I personally see it included on BT Vision packages with customers of other platforms having to pay a monthly fee to access it.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

I personally see it included on BT Vision packages with customers of other platforms having to pay a monthly fee to access it.

They will have to get a lot more rights to make it worth while to subscribe as a stand alone. We will also have to see how VM deal with BT.

[Chad]

BT has spent £890 million on sports rights so far. If the channel launches at £10.00 per month they will need around 22 million subscribers to take the channel for 4 years just for them to break even. Based on previous Setanta Sports and ESPN subscriber numbers, I think BT will be lucky to get more than 1.5 million people taking the channel. Didn’t Setanta peak at about 1.1 million?

If and when BT land more sports rights you’ve really got to start to wonder how much money they are prepared to throw at this. Can anyone really see BT overtaking SKY as the nation’s favourite TV provider?