| ESPN America | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 5 December 2002 |
| Owned by | ESPN Inc. |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV 16:9) 1080i (HDTV 16:9) |
| Audience share | N/A (Data Unknown, ) |
| Formerly called | NASN (2002-2009) |
| Sister channel(s) | ESPN (UK) ESPN Classic |
| Website | www.espnamerica.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky | Channel 430 Channel 430 (HD) |
| Sky Germany | Channel 261 Channel 262 (HD) |
| Canal Digital | Channel 23 |
| CanalDigitaal | Channel 33 |
| CanalSat | Channel 96 |
| n | Channel 116 |
| SKY Italia | Channel 214 |
| Digiturk | Channel 85 Channel 383 (HD) |
| meo satélite Portugal | Channel 29 |
| ZON TV Portugal | Channel 28 |
| TotalTV Serbia/Slovenia/Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia/ | Channel 46/34/40/40/22 |
| meo satélite Portugal | Channel 29 |
| UPC Direct (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Hungary | Channel 121 (HD) |
| OTE TV Sat | Channel 307 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 531 |
| Smallworld Cable | Channel 422 (SD/HD) |
| UPC Ireland | Channel 410 |
| UPC Austria | Channel 303 |
| UPC Romania | Channel 210 (digital with DVR) Channel 80 (digital) |
| Cablecom | Channel 104 Channel 173 (digital CH-D) |
| Com Hem Sweden | Channel 110 |
| Ziggo Netherlands | Channel 412 |
| Cabovisão Portugal | Channel 72 |
| Kabel Deutschland | Channel 411 |
| ZON TV Portugal | Channel 28 |
| TVTEL Portugal | Channel 26 |
| UPC Netherlands | Channel 218 |
| UPC Poland | Channel 569 |
| aon.tv Austria | Channel 126 |
| naxoo | Channel 83 |
| Numericable | Channel 160 |
| IPTV | |
| Telia Sweden | Channel 77 |
| meo Portugal | Channel 37 Channel 36 (HD) |
| PrimeTV Cyprus | |
| KPN Netherlands | Channel 212 |
| Skjárinn Iceland | Channel 146 |
| P&T Luxembourg | Channel 450 |
| Swisscom TV Switzerland | Channel ?? (HD) |
| TTNET Tivibu Turkey | Channel 89 Channel 389 (HD) |
| Deutsche Telekom Germany | Channel 261 |
ESPN America is a British based European sports network, focusing on professional and collegiate sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched on 5 December 2002 as NASN (the North American Sports Network), ESPN America broadcasts a selection of top North American professional and collegiate sports leagues including Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Canadian Football League (CFL), 24 hours a day on digital cable and digital satellite television.
Formerly operated by Setanta Sports with backing from Benchmark Capital Europe, it was acquired by the American sports media company ESPN in March 2007.[1] It was subsequently re-branded as ESPN America on 1 February 2009.
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Programming on ESPN America varies from country to country. Currently, the channel operates three feeds throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic countries events currently shown on ESPN America include Major League Baseball, the College World Series, NCAA college football and college basketball, the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship Frozen Four plus the Arena Football League, Major League Lacrosse, and the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Final Four. In continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Iceland the broadcast also includes NFL programmes.
ESPN America also shown the Little-League World Series from Williamsport, PA and the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest from Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY.
NASN paid £11.6m in March 2006 for the rights to show ten live MLB games a week.[2]
In 2006, ESPN programmes, including Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn, The Sports Reporters and Pardon the Interruption were dropped from the schedule as the contract between NASN and ESPN ended. However, they returned from 1 April 2007 after ESPN acquired the channel.[3]
ESPN America also airs other ESPN US produced single-sport programmes, such as College Football Live, College GameDay, NBA Fastbreak and NASCAR Now. In addition, to mark the 30th anniversary of ESPN, the channel has been showing ESPN Films' 30 for 30 series.
As of 28 October 2009, ESPN America began to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen.[4]
On 1 March 2010, ESPN America began showing a European edition of SportsCenter, anchored by Michael Kim.[5] The 30-minute programme broadcasts five days a week at 6am with three repeat showings following immediately after, with an updated show at 10.30pm. The show is filmed at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, USA.
Up until the 2011-12 NHL season, ESPN America held the rights to live and delayed NHL matches as well as round-up programming such as NHL On The Fly, however these rights were not renewed and are now held by different networks across Europe, including Premier Sports in the UK and Setanta Sports in Ireland.
In late 2006, former owners Benchmark Capital Europe and Setanta Sports agreed to sell the network to ESPN for €70m.[6] The sale was completed in March 2007 but the network continued to be part of the Setanta Sports Pack on satellite television until June 2009 when Setanta UK went into administration.[1][7] The network became known as ESPN America on 1 February 2009 to coincide with Super Bowl XLIII. The channel continued to provide the same lineup of North American sports programming.[8]
On March 1, 2010, the Nordic Canal Digital launched an HD version of ESPN America.[9] The channel launched in the UK on the Sky platform on June 21, 2010.[10] It was launched in Portugal on ZON Multimédia's cable platform om November 24, 2010. In Germany, the Channel started airing over the Sky Germany platform on October 27, 2010.