Disney, who owns a majority stake in ESPN, has signalled their intention to transition ESPN from a traditional cable network to a streaming service. This has left cable networks scrambling for a piece of the major US sports network, but Australians need not worry with Foxtel inking a new multi-year, multi-platform deal to continue to access ESPN.
The new deal extends the partnership between Foxtel and ESPN which is already at 21 years of age and incorporates the Kayo streaming platform with Foxtel Group Executive Director – Commercial, Sport Rebecca McCloy saying “These rights, and the strength and quality of coverage from Fox Sports and partners like ESPN, is continuing to drive the growth of our award-winning streaming service Kayo Sports – which now has more than 1.3 million subscribers.”
ESPN is not just the home of high profile studio shows such as SportsCenter, First Take, NBA Today and Pardon The Interruption, but also has rights to the major US sports including the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC and all major events across US college sports.
ESPN is the ‘Home of Hoops’ in Australia with not just the NBA coverage but also their NBL, FIBA< WNBA, WNBL and US college basketball important parts of the programming.
“We are proud to be the home of Australia’s biggest and most popular sports through Foxtel and Kayo Sports – it’s great news for our millions of sports subscribers that this deal will ensure they continue to have access to the best of ESPN’s world-class sports,” said Rebecca McCloy, Foxtel Group executive director of commercial and sport.”
So many Australians love their sport and the new deal inked allows most of us to access it from anywhere using a majority of devices. ESPN is a large part of the sports that we love so it’s great to see this new deal and some certainty given the turmoil in the entertainment industry at the moment.
