Media Notes
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ESPN Reportedly Interested In
English Premier League Rights |
ESPN Soccernet's Ives Galarcep, on his blog SoccerByIves.net, said of ESPN Classic, "The word I just got from a source at ESPN is that ... ESPN has big plans for expanding ESPN Classic into potentially an ESPN3, with the English Premier League as one of the station's marquee draws." Galarcep: "That whole scenario may wind up being wishful thinking but what is clear is that ESPN is interested in the EPL rights." AOL FANHOUSE's David Warner wrote, "Look no further than [ESPN's] heavy promotion of Wednesday's Champions League final during SportsCenter and NBA Playoff games." ESPN is "expected to bid on the Premier League TV rights starting with the 2009-2010 season" (SPORTS.AOL.com, 5/18).
STAT BOYS: The NBA and Stats LLC have agreed to a multi-year extension of their deal in which Stats will continue to be the exclusive provider of NBA, WNBA and D-League statistics in real-time to broadcast, print, online and other media outlets for all territories outside China (Stats). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Eric Fisher reports under terms of the three-year deal, Stats will "continue to distribute NBA data in China," but the country was "carved out of the new, exclusive deal so the league's NBA China subsidiary could remain flexible to other options" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/19 issue).
NOTES: DirecTV will debut its French Open Interactive component when the tournament begins on Sunday, providing complete coverage of the play on five courts. A French Open Mix channel will allow viewers to watch up to six live matches at once. The initiative was created in collaboration with ESPN2 and Tennis Channel (DirecTV)....The WNBA will have games broadcast in 32 languages across 203 countries this season (WNBA).
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