Digital TV News

ESPN wins rights to Uefa Europa League

Wednesday 2 September, 2009

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Everton, Fulham and Celtic fans will be able to watch their teams European matches live on ESPN, after the broadcaster scored a broadcasting hat trick.

ESPN has scored the rights for the new Uefa Europa League, after previous rights holders Setanta went into administration.

Disney-owned sports broadcaster ESPN also won the rights to air 46 live Premier League matches earlier this year, and is broadcasting 30 games from the Scottish Premier League.

A spokesperson for Uefa said: “ESPN’s new sports channel compliments the launch of this exciting competition and will provide UK football fans with additional top quality live football.”

ESPN is available on Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Top Up TV, and Tiscali TV. The new deal means that fans will be able to watch European matches featuring qualified clubs Everton, Fulham and Celtic.

ESPN will share UK rights to the Europa League competition with Channel Five in a three-year deal, with the first matches to be played on 15 September 2009. The final will be in May next year.