3 august 2009 1 owned by bt group branding licensed from espn inc. picture format 576i sdtv 16 9 1080i hdtv 16 9 audience share 0.03 % september 2015 2015 09 barb slogan it s great to be here country united kingdom broadcast area united kingdom ireland formerly called espn 2009 15 sister channel s bt sport availability satellite sky channel 426 channel 458 hd cable virgin media channel 530 hd channel 534 iptv bt channel 411 channel 434 hd plusnet channel 411 channel 434 hd talktalk tv channel 411 streaming media bt sport player watch live uk only virgin tv anywhere watch live uk only bt sport espn is a sports television channel provided by bt consumer ; a division of bt group in the united kingdom and ireland under licence from american sports broadcaster espn inc. the channel was operated by espn from 3 august 2009 to 31 july 2013 1 when it was sold to bt and became part of its bt sport package . the channel focusses on coverage of american sports in particular major league baseball and american college sports but bt also uses it to show european sport when bt sport 1 2 & 3 are otherwise engaged . programming is available in standard definition and high definition formats . contents 1 history 2 availability 2.1 before august 2013 2.2 from august 2013 3 content 3.1 basketball 3.2 cricket 3.3 football 3.3.1 english football 3.3.1.1 premier league 3.3.1.2 fa cup 3.3.1.3 women s super league 3.3.2 scottish leagues 3.3.3 uefa europa league 3.3.4 uefa champions league 3.3.5 foreign club football 3.3.6 international football 3.3.7 pre season football 3.3.8 charity football 3.4 mixed martial arts 3.5 rugby union 3.6 tennis 3.7 us sports 3.8 other sports 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit espn logo used from 2009 to 2015 . the channel launched on 3 august 2009 following espn s acquisition of partial uk broadcast rights to the premier league six weeks prior caused in turn by the financial difficulties of setanta sports which ceased broadcasting in great britain at about the same time . 2 it marked espn s first foray into live coverage of domestic sports events in the uk . prior to august 2009 espn s only operations in the uk were archive sports channel espn classic as well as the pan european espn america channel which focused on north american sport . on 13 june 2012 it was announced that espn had missed out on premier league broadcast rights from the 2013 14 to 2015 16 season to sky sports and bt despite making a strong bid . 3 the news followed speculation that espn was reconsidering its position in the uk . 4 in the following months espn also lost the rights to premiership rugby premiership rugby sevens series and american brazilian french and italian top flight football to bt . 5 6 on 1 february 2013 broadcast reported that espn had entered talks to sell off its remaining sports rights believed to be worth more than 15m . 7 during the walt disney company s first quarter earnings results conference call on 5 february 2013 disney s chief financial officer jay rasulo confirmed that espn had experienced losses in the uk and was exploring an exit . 8 on 25 february 2013 bt agreed to acquire espn s uk and ireland tv channels business consisting of espn and espn america . bt continue to broadcast espn since the deal s completion date of 31 july as part of its bt sport package of services . 9 the value of the deal had not been disclosed but bt was understood to be paying low tens of millions . 10 in january 2015 bt reached a long term rights deal with espn allowing the network to maintain its affiliation with espn international and its rights to sports properties owned by espn outright or to which it holds international rights as well as its original programmes . 11 on 9 june 2015 bt rebranded the channel as bt sport espn . availability edit before august 2013 edit a carriage and retail agreement for both residential and commercial customers was struck with british sky broadcasting who sold the channel through their sky platform . 1 british sky broadcasting s sky media also acted as ad sales house for the channel . 12 some events were also transmitted on sky 3d including the winter x games xv 2011 fa cup final and 2011 nba finals . 13 14 15 from 22 july 2011 espn was available without additional charge to full sky sports pack subscribers in ireland . 16 espn hd logo espn is available on virgin media in standard and high definition as a part of the xl pack . m m or l pack customers can subscribe to espn and bt sport . a discount was previously available to sky sports subscribers . 17 after the acquisition of espn by bt sport on 1 august 2013 virgin media customers lost access to espn channels despite virgin media and bt being in talks for more than 2 months prior to the switch over . 18 espn and espn hd returned on 15 august after bt signed a wholesale deal with virgin media for the carriage of bt sport . 19 top up tv carried espn from 4 august 2009 . a connection fee applied to non top up tv subscribers ex setanta digital terrestrial television customers or those without a viewing card . 20 21 on 26 july 2011 top up tv announced that espn would be available via a conditional access module cam when the cam service was launched in august . 22 bt vision has carried espn from 4 august 2009 as part of bt vision s value packs bronze silver and gold . 23 24 on both bt vision and top up tv espn broadcasts from 14 00 04 00 on weekdays 11 00 06 00 on saturday and 11 00 04 00 on sunday . 25 talktalk tv then known as tiscali tv carried espn from 14 august 2009 along with espn america . 26 espn was available on smallworld cable without additional charge when taken with the ultimate hd tv pack . other customers can subscribe to espn . 27 on 14 august 2009 a deal with cable company upc ireland and espn was reached . on that date espn and espn hd launched on upc . 28 a discount is available to sky sports or setanta sports 1 subscribers . espn america ceased to be part of the setanta sports package on that date and was bundled with espn instead . on 4 january 2010 upc and espn announced a new deal whereby espn including its hd counterpart and espn america would become part of upc s digital select extra and digital max packages . 29 espn have offered a number of free periods ranging between a weekend and a month . 30 31 in february 2012 a free weekend covered a premier league match between manchester city and fulham marking the first time that a premier league fixture had been broadcast free to air in the uk . 32 during the same weekend the channel was also available on tvcatchup . 33 from august 2013 edit after espn s acquisition by bt group in 2013 bt have included espn as part of their bt sport pack and is available on sky virgin media and bt tv as well as online via the bt sport website and bt sport app . bt sport espn is also available in the republic of ireland through eir sport . content edit this section describes the content that espn uk showed before bt sport morphed espn uk into a channel focused mainly on american sport . basketball edit on 30 july 2009 espn announced a deal to air eurobasket . 34 on 30 september 2009 espn announced that they had secured a multi year deal to show live national basketball association games . 35 the channel show up to three live matches a week during the nba season in standard and high definition including one game at sunday primetime . it also carries nba all star games and action from the season playoffs and final . espn also broadcast studio shows nba fastbreak and nba action . live pre season coverage began on espn on 6 october 2009 when the utah jazz took on the chicago bulls as part of nba europe live tour . coverage continued on 8 october 2009 for utah jazz against euroleague basketball s real madrid baloncesto . the nba season officially started on 27 october 2009 . espn uk was unable to secure the rights to the 2012 13 nba season until 5 december 2012 when a deal was made between nba and espn to show 3 games a week nba all star game first and second round nba play off coverage western conference finals and nba finals for this season 2012 13 . coverage began the following day . 36 the channel continues to show this after the acquisition of espn by bt sport cricket edit on 22 july 2010 espn agreed a deal with the west indies cricket board for exclusive uk broadcast rights to the inaugural caribbean t20 tournament . 37 the event which ran from 22 31 july featured eight west indian twenty20 teams including barbados combined campuses and colleges guyana jamaica trinidad and toboago and the windward islands competing to win the caribbean twenty20 title . these rights now air on bt sport . the channel has also completed a deal to show the inaugural sri lanka premier league tournament in august 2012 . football edit english football edit premier league edit the company announced on 22 june 2009 that it had secured the uk broadcast rights to the premier league for four seasons airing 46 games in the 2009 10 season and 23 games a year for the following three seasons following a missed payment by setanta sports which voided their contracts . 2 38 in ireland espn will air the same 46 matches during the 2009 10 season . 39 premier league coverage was produced by sky sports in house production team with former bbc presenter ray stubbs hosting while rebecca lowe reports from the touchline and jon champion commentates alongside either chris waddle or craig burley . 40 41 kevin keegan is the lead analyst while guus hiddink shaka hislop frank leboeuf danny murphy peter reid matt holland and ian wright were also signed to provide analysis . 42 43 mark chapman nat coombs and kelly cates also form a part of the line up . img sports media make the studio shows and ancillary programming . 44 the first premier league match to be shown on espn was everton s 6 1 loss against arsenal . 45 from the 2010 11 season sky no longer produced coverage of matches instead coverage was taken over by img sports media in an effort to offer quality and innovation and introduce new technology from the broadcaster s us parent to help develop post match analysis . 46 47 the change also affects fa cup and scottish premier league coverage . espn have also increased the number of cameras at games from an average of 16 cameras to 23 . 48 after espn lost the rights to the premier league to bt sport espn inc. sold the channel to bt sport . fa cup edit on 7 december 2009 it was reported that espn had secured the rights to 25 live and exclusive fa cup matches per season from the 2010 11 season . 49 the contract will run for four seasons and all matches will be broadcast in high definition . 50 espn will televise two matches in the fa cup first and second rounds plus up to two replays per round three matches from the