North American Sports Network
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| North American Sports Network | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 5th December 2002 |
| Owned by | ESPN, Inc. |
| Audience share | N/A (Data Unknown, ) |
| Website | www.nasn.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 417 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 533 |
NASN, (North American Sports Network), is a television channel available in Ireland and the UK, and now across Europe. Originally launched in December, 2002, NASN broadcasts a selection of top North American professional and collegiate sports leagues (MLB, NHL, NCAA, CFL, plus more) 24 hours a day on digital cable and digital satellite. In March 2007 the sale of the channel to ESPN was completed.
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[edit] Sale to ESPN
In late 2006, NASN's owners, Benchmark Capital Europe and Setanta Sports, agreed to sell the network to ESPN for €70m.[1] Completion of the sale will be in the first quarter of 2007.[1]
It is not known if ESPN plans to change the channel's name from NASN to ESPN, bringing the channel's name in line with ESPN Classic (UK). However, both NASN and NASN2 will continue to be part of the Setanta Sports Pack on satellite television.
It is thought that ESPN will use the new channel as a foothold to compete with BSkyB and Setanta for access to the FA Premier League when its bidding rights come up in 2009-10. The National Football League is another possibility; it has long been a staple of the ESPN domestic network in the United States.
[edit] NASN programming
Programming on NASN varies from country to country. Currently, the channel operates at least two feeds throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Scandinavia, events currently seen on NASN include Major League Baseball, NCAA college football and college basketball, the National Hockey League, and the Canadian Football League. Viewers in countries like Germany, France, and the Netherlands can catch National Football League games, including Super Bowl XLI and the Pro Bowl, as well as various programs from NFL Network.
NASCAR racing is also present on NASN, and it holds the British and Irish rights to the Nextel Cup and the Busch Series. Before the season started there was some doubt if NASN was going to show NASCAR as there was competition from Eurosport and other TV broadcasters. Eventually, NASN re-upped with NASCAR to show every Nextel Cup or Busch Series race live or as-live, with the exception of the 2007 Daytona 500, which aired on the terrestrial network five. (Note: Nextel Cup is not available to Cable subscribers of NASN as it is shown on Setanta Ireland)
Programs such as Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption in which all of them are produced by ESPN, were dropped from the schedule in 2006 as ESPN didn't renew the contract. But on the 7th of March 2007 NASN announced that these programs would be returning to NASN. Also the TV program The Sports Reporters would now be present on NASN. These programs return from 1st April 2007. SportsCenter is another possible future addition, due to the ESPN ownership.
