ESPN Classic (European TV channel)
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ESPN Classic was a British-based European sports television channel which first launched in France in March 2002, followed by Italy in July 2002, and pan-Europe in December 2003..
On 25 February 2013, BT Group agreed to acquire ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels business, consisting of ESPN and ESPN America, the value of the deal was not disclosed, but BT is understood to have paid "low tens of millions".[7] ESPN Classic, which was not part of the BT deal, ceased transmission on satellite across Europe, the Middle East and Africa at midnight on 1 August 2013.
Programming
Much of the channel's output was football. This included action from the
A significant proportion of the football action on ESPN Classic was archive ITV football coverage, including matches covered by regional ITV companies. However much of the football seen on the channel was not shown with the original commentary. Instead, many games, especially the Premier League and FA Cup games, tended to feature commentary dubbed on more recently by Jon Champion and Paul Dempsey, or commentary by Sky Sports broadcasters such as Martin Tyler and Alan Parry which seemed to be from the international feed of the time. Similarly, the footage from games where commentary was later added did not include original on-screen captions, with ESPN adding captions themselves. Some 1960s European Cup finals also had a new commentary dubbed on by Tony Jones.
The channel also showed some
In addition to the programmes mentioned above, ESPN Classic had made a variety of other programmes. These included Sports Years as well as many football compilation programmes. In addition, to mark the 30th anniversary of ESPN, the channel showed the ESPN Films' 30 for 30 series.
ESPN Classic regularly repeated the sporting action that it showed on the channel with the same material often being shown time and time again. Some of the action, especially ESPN-produced programmes and series, had been broadcast on the channel on dozens of different occasions.
BBC-produced programming
During the first three years of the channel sporting action from the BBC was featured extensively. However, this deal expired in mid 2009 and was seemingly not renewed as for the next eighteen months the channel did not feature any sport produced by the BBC. Therefore, sports such as
In March 2011, a new deal between ESPN and the BBC was signed which provided ESPN Classic with access to around 80 hours of footage.[9] However, this was far less than under the previous agreement which had given the channel access to around 630 hours. The new deal meant that previous ESPN-produced programmes based on the BBC archive, such as the darts series Bellies and Bullseyes, were once again shown on the channel along with new programmes, such as athletics series Solid Gold - Team GB and other one-off programmes such as a compilation of top Grand Nationals. This new deal with BBC Sport coincided with a new look for the channel, the first new look since ESPN UK launched in summer 2009.
Live action
ESPN Classic occasionally showed live action when two events to which ESPN has the rights took place at the same time. The first live sport that the channel showed was two UEFA Europa League matches, on 29 September and 20 October 2011. The first of the two games was Maribor and Birmingham.
On 9 January 2012, the channel broadcast the third evening of the BDO World Darts Championship because the main channel was showing a third round match from the FA Cup. This happened again a year later when for the same reason ESPN Classic again showed the third evening's action.
On 5 May 2012, ESPN Classic broadcast two live events - the final day of rugby union's Premiership league season and a football match from Serie A. This was due to the main channel showing live coverage of the FA Cup Final.
On 1 September 2012, ESPN Classic showed a live rugby union match from the
On 20 and 22 September 2012, ESPN Classic showed live coverage of the
On 4 May 2013, ESPN Classic was used to provide coverage of a second game from the final set of league matches of the 2012–13 Aviva Premiership season.
See also
- ESPN
- BT Sport ESPN
- ESPN Star Sports
- ESPN America
- ESPN in the United Kingdom
- ABC1
- ESPN on ABC
References
- ^ "Classic Sport FAQ". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ "ESPN Classic to close after seven years on air". Sport-OnTheBox.com. 29 July 2013.
- ^ "Disney Cinemagic & ESPN Classic launch in March". Media 247. 27 February 2006. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012.
- ^ "Virgin Media and ESPN announce channel deal ahead of Premier League football season". Virgin Media. 29 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "ESPN Classic VOD coming to Virgin Media". Digital Spy. 11 February 2011.
- ^ "Chorus ntl to carry ESPN HD in Ireland". Digital Spy. 14 August 2009.
- ^ "BT buys ESPN'S UK and Ireland TV channels". The Guardian. 25 February 2013.
- ^ "ESPN secures archive World Cup footage". Digital Spy. 5 October 2009.
- Media Guardian. 31 March 2011.