I have died and gone to heaven.
Again.
Beginning the first weekend of the upcoming English Premier League season, ESPN2 will show the early Saturday match and the Monday match. Beginning with Chelsea vs Hull City on Saturday 15 August and Liverpool vs Aston Villa on Monday 24 August, ESPN will feature the Saturday 7:45 am ET/4:45 am PT match and the Monday 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT match. Here is a summary of what we know as posted on EPL Talk:
- The two time slots to be broadcast by ESPN2 were formerly held by Setanta who sublicensed them from Fox Soccer Channel (FSC).
- Where there is no 7:45 am ET/4:45 am PT Saturday match available, ESPN will have first choice of the Saturday 10:00 am ET/7:00 am PT match from Setanta.
- Setanta will show the two Saturday 10:00 am ET/7:00 am PT matches, early Sunday matches, and Tuesday and Wednesday matches – Setanta US, Setanta Xtra, and Setanta Broadband.
- Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN360 will also be showing English Premier League matches this season.
- It is not known if ESPN will use the international feed or in-house commentators, but the blog speculates that their crew will announce the Monday matches, but Saturday matches is still an unknown.
- It is not known if ESPN2 will show the matches in HD.
- The U.S. video rights for 2010-2013 Premier League games have not been finalized.
In the comments to the EPL Talk blog post, it was noted that the source for this information is "An unnamed inside source" and "ESPN will issue a press release in the coming days to formally announce the news."
If true, THANKS TO THE GAFFER AT EPL TALK!
RELATED DRIVEL:
The European Sports Programming Network?
Comments