Sports fans can now get ESPN channels as part of Virgin Media’s XL
pack for no extra cost
Virgin Media (NASDAQ:VMED) and ESPN today announced that the new ESPN
channel will be available in both standard and High Definition (HD) to
Virgin Media’s 3.5 million digital TV customers from 3rd
August. The ESPN channel will offer live Barclays Premier League and
Clydesdale Bank Premier League football as well a wide range of
international football and top quality sports.
Customers who subscribe to Virgin Media’s XL TV pack will be able to
watch ESPN and ESPN HD at no additional cost. As part of the deal, these
subscribers will also receive ESPN Classic, featuring the greatest
moments of UK and European sport.
Dedicated sports fans who are on Virgin Media’s M or L pack will be able
to subscribe to ESPN and ESPN HD for a great value price of £8 a month
if they already subscribe to any combination of the Sky Sports channels,
or £10 a month if not.
As a special introduction to the new ESPN and ESPN HD channels, Virgin
Media will make these ESPN channels available to all of its digital TV
customers, for no additional cost, during August.
Mark Schweitzer, chief commercial officer of Virgin Media, said: “This
agreement solidifies Virgin Media’s place as the home of TV
entertainment and is unquestionably the best value TV deal for sports
fanatics. We’ve got all the sports content you’d expect and adding the
new ESPN channels to our line-up will mean our customers can watch all
the football action they want.”
Mr Schweitzer added: “We’re always looking for ways to go the extra mile
for our customers and we think this market beating offer does this in
spades as well as providing a sweetener for the start of the football
season. We are extremely proud to have partnered with ESPN, which is the
world’s leading multimedia sports entertainment company.”
Lynne Frank, managing director for ESPN in Europe, Middle East and
Africa said: “We are delighted to add Virgin Media as a new distribution
partner and to offer millions more sports fans ESPN’s compelling mix of
Barclays Premier League and Clydesdale Bank Premier League football, as
well as the best of international football and top quality sports. The
plan to make the channels available to Virgin Media’s XL customers will
help ESPN better serve sports fans in the UK.
