Liberty Global carriage deal for ESPN
April 12, 2012
Liberty Global’s European cable operations in Germany (Unitymedia and Kabel BW), Netherlands (UPC), Austria (UPC) and Switzerland (upc cablecom) have reached agreements with ESPN for carriage of sports channels. With a combination of renewals and new launches, ESPN America HD, ESPN America and ESPN Classic will be available to European households that get their television service from UPC companies.
In the Netherlands, ESPN and UPC Netherlands have renewed their existing ESPN America agreement and are launching ESPN America HD.In central Europe, Unitymedia and Kabel BW (Germany), UPC Austria and upc cablecom (Switzerland) have each renewed agreements to deliver ESPN America and ESPN Classic to viewers. upc cablecom also carries ESPN America HD.
The agreements also will allow ESPN and the individual Liberty Global platforms to collaborate around video-on-demand content for current or future VoD services. ESPN will also work with the local-market teams on collaborative marketing.
Murray Barnett, vice president, sports channels and syndication, ESPN EMEA, said the agreement was an extension of the collaboration and mutual growth between the broadcaster and Liberty Global platforms. He confirmed that ESPN would continue to work collaboratively with Liberty Global companies and platforms to serve or explore video-on-demand services.