US sports broadcaster ESPN has today confirmed that it is to launch a new British channel in early August to show the 46 live Premier League matches it won last month following the collapse of Setanta.
The new channel, which will simply be called ESPN, will launch on 3 August ahead of the start of the new Premier League season on 15 August.
For residential customers, ESPN will be available on a premium subscription basis, for £9 a month to Sky Sports subscribers and for £12 a month to other Sky customers.
Disney-owned ESPN's new UK channel will replace ESPN America on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable TV electronic programme guides.
The new channel will appear on the Sky electronic programme guide at number 417 with a high definition service at number 443. This will be ESPN's first European HD channel.
A spokesman for ESPN said the broadcaster was also looking at acquiring other rights for the new UK channel.
"We are interested in rights when they become available and when they make business sense. If we were to acquire additional live rights for the UK market, it is likely they would be broadcast on this [ESPN] channel," he added.
It is understood ESPN is looking at acquiring other UK sports rights previously held by Setanta, including live Scottish Premier League matches.
ESPN Classic, which shows great sporting moments, will remain on the EPG at number 442.
A range of US and international sports coverage broadcast on ESPN America will continue to feature on the new channel. It is thought that ESPN America could return at a later date as a separate UK channel in another EPG slot.
BSkyB, which owns the rights to show the remaining 92 live Premier League matches next season, will sell the new ESPN channel to both its residential and commercial customers alongside its own Sky Sports services.
The Sky Sports in-house production team will produce ESPN's Premier League matches, while Sky's advertising sales house will sell the advertising inventory. ESPN will produce its own graphics, analysis and additional programming.
ESPN won the right to show 46 live Premier League matches for the 2009/10 season, and 23 matches a season for the following three years, following a hastily arranged auction after previous owner Setanta went into administration last month.
"We hope football and sports fans will enjoy ESPN's compelling mix of Barclays Premier League football, international sports and the best of the US sports in both SD [standard definition] and HD," said Lynne Frank, ESPN's managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"We look forward to working with Sky to deliver great sports content to their subscribers and will continue our discussions with all other pay-TV providers so that we can bring ESPN to as many sports fans in the UK as possible."
Mike Darcey, Sky's chief operating officer, added: "Our agreement with ESPN to retail its portfolio of sports channels ensures that we have certainty of distribution of all live Premier League matches to Sky homes, and further adds to the high-quality sports content our customers can enjoy, both in standard- and high-definition."