Sky customers will still have to pay an extra subscription to keep on watching the other Sports channels aka BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN they might have to pay a higher price for them after the 31st of July,
it could go up to £15 a month or in an extreme case more for them, in regards Virgin customers it could be that it will not be part of the Size XL TV pack like the current ESPN channels are, all depending on BT and Virgin of course
We will still have to pay an extra subscription to keep on watching the other Sports channels aka BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN we might have to pay a higher price for them after the 31st of July, it could go up to £15 a month
or in an extreme case more, it could be that it will not be in the XL TV pack like the current ESPN channels are, all depending on BT and Virgin of course
why? because im a virgin customer. i pay for sky and would like full prem subscriptions, and isnt espn dispanding soon if it doesnt its not gunna have any prem games to draw me in.
why? because im a virgin customer. i pay for sky and would like full prem subscriptions, and isnt espn dispanding soon if it doesnt its not gunna have any prem games to draw me in.
so thats why
I too have both so I can get my fix of Sky Atlantic
ESPN will not be disappearing soon as they will keep their online presence
The full subscription for football will be split between Sky and BT from the 1st of August, as the Red Button service with extra matches will be via their YouView box and quite possibly via their BT Vision box too
It has been announced, I am just waiting for the confirmation to come through
We don't know if it will come to Virgin. More info will be released this week and if a deal with Virgin is not announced this week, it may still happen later in the summer.
We believe the channels will be called BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN.
We predict the ESPN-branded channel will be more like ESPN America than ESPN UK in terms of content. But as there will now only be one ESPN-branded channel in the UK, there will be no need to call it ESPN America.
We predict the ESPN-branded channel will be more like ESPN America than ESPN UK in terms of content. But as there will now only be one ESPN-branded channel in the UK, there will be no need to call it ESPN America.
I certainly hope that is the case. And seeings as it won't have football I would hope that would free up space on ESPN to continue to show AFL, Indy, DTM, MLB/NBA/AHL etc.
Of course that's on the proviso that its a) on VM and b] at a reasonable sub price.
I certainly hope that is the case. And seeings as it won't have football I would hope that would free up space on ESPN to continue to show AFL, Indy, DTM, MLB/NBA/AHL etc.
Of course that's on the proviso that its a) on VM and b] at a reasonable sub price.
I presume that the ESPN channel will be free as long as you subscribe to BT Sports 1 and 2, I do not think they will be sold separately, it will come as a bundle or bouquet of channels like ITV Football/Sport and Setanta use to
Same here. The only reason I added xl TV was to get the extra football coverage via ESPN. In saying that I think that recently its coverage seems to have fallen away.
If it isn't replaced I'm sure plenty of us will be looking to lower our package.
Hope we get a discount xl then as one of the draws for taking it was espn included
Unlikely. Looks like BT are wanting to retail the channels themselves as a separate package, based on how they are on Sky, so if they are on VM it will likely be the same.
I can't see it being part of or discounted by the XL pack.
Unlikely. Looks like BT are wanting to retail the channels themselves as a separate package, based on how they are on Sky, so if they are on VM it will likely be the same.
I can't see it being part of or discounted by the XL pack.
It seems unlikely but not impossible, at the moment Virgin pay £2 per XL customer for ESPN, so it would depend if BT would make more from a stand alone package with less take up then from the £2 for every customer, If the monthly fee were £10 then they would have to bank on >than 20% of XL customers taking out the sports pack from them
I can't see that many virgin customers paying for bt sports unless they're very well off, no way i could afford it, can see a lot of people have xl for espn though
I too have both so I can get my fix of Sky Atlantic
ESPN will not be disappearing soon as they will keep their online presence
The full subscription for football will be split between Sky and BT from the 1st of August, as the Red Button service with extra matches will be via their YouView box and quite possibly via their BT Vision box too
It has been announced, I am just waiting for the confirmation to come through
BT Vision have just started showen one or two shows that have been on Sky Atlantic with the likes of the first season of Blue Bloods that I started watching yesterday. Im also just over halfway though watching the first season of Fallen Skies on BT Vision and im enjoying it.
Many Virgin Media customers only have the higher tier TV package to get ESPN (& its football) included, if BT keep ESPN channel going & that remains included in the high tier VM subs they're almost certain not show live football on it as that is surely the point of BT Sports 1 & 2
Virgin will be getting a lot of people either downgrading their TV packages or even leaving if they're in a BT Infinity area, or to stay on the high tier packages they're going to be wanting something in lieu of the soon to be missing football.
Basically what are VM going to be doing for high tier TV subscribers who are soon going to be losing football
I can't see that many virgin customers paying for bt sports unless they're very well off, no way i could afford it, can see a lot of people have xl for espn though
Yep, ESPN & its live football is the sweetener for high tier subscriptions.
When football moves to BT Sports 1 & 2 then the high tier subscription loses value
Be interesting to see what Virgin's response is else they risk people downgrading and losing revenue per customer, or people leaving altogether.
The number of channels added recently is the sweetener to stay on XL and I do not think this offering is good enough.
I do not understand French or Arabic for starters.
Will have to wait and see what happens in the coming months before making any choices.
a few lifestyle channels Vs live football
They know what the real hook to high tier subscriptions was, you're hardly likely to see CBS Drama as a bullet point on promo material in the same way ESPN was.
& whilst ESPN still exists, its like of live football & presumably rugby & moto GP that BT have also signed up will mean it's not the draw it was
Many Virgin Media customers only have the higher tier TV package to get ESPN (& its football) included, if BT keep ESPN channel going & that remains included in the high tier VM subs they're almost certain not show live football on it as that is surely the point of BT Sports 1 & 2
Virgin will be getting a lot of people either downgrading their TV packages or even leaving if they're in a BT Infinity area, or to stay on the high tier packages they're going to be wanting something in lieu of the soon to be missing football.
Basically what are VM going to be doing for high tier TV subscribers who are soon going to be losing football
I agree. I wonder if VM have something up their sleeve, especially as some channels have now been put into the lower packages of L and M+.
If not, the main benefits for being on XL will be for +1 channels and most of the HD channels.
I'll be leaving the XL package, i only kept it for ESPN...think quite a few people will be thinking the same way. VM will need to come up with something to pre-empt this.
We take Sky Sports for mainly F1 and Football and as we have XL we currently get ESPN free.
Two points from this:-
1) No way can I afford an additional £10 to £12 pounds for the BT Sports pack, in fact I don't even intend paying any thing for it.
2) With no ESPN on XL pack what do VM intend to do to stop sports fans from down grading to another pack.
Question for the experts, will loss of ESPN count as a good reason to get a contract change from VM?
Comments
Already answered in other Threads
Both the ESPN America and ESPN Classic channel are closing leaving just the main ESPN channel going, they have been bought by BT
Not sure what the situation is with Virgin as no announcements have been made, I suspect they will get both the SD and HD versions of the channels
Both ESPN America and ESPN Classics will close on the 31st of July according to the E - Mails and Letters that I have had
Why?
Sky customers will still have to pay an extra subscription to keep on watching the other Sports channels aka BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN they might have to pay a higher price for them after the 31st of July,
it could go up to £15 a month or in an extreme case more for them, in regards Virgin customers it could be that it will not be part of the Size XL TV pack like the current ESPN channels are, all depending on BT and Virgin of course
why? because im a virgin customer. i pay for sky and would like full prem subscriptions, and isnt espn dispanding soon if it doesnt its not gunna have any prem games to draw me in.
so thats why
I too have both so I can get my fix of Sky Atlantic
ESPN will not be disappearing soon as they will keep their online presence
The full subscription for football will be split between Sky and BT from the 1st of August, as the Red Button service with extra matches will be via their YouView box and quite possibly via their BT Vision box too
It has been announced, I am just waiting for the confirmation to come through
We believe the channels will be called BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN.
We predict the ESPN-branded channel will be more like ESPN America than ESPN UK in terms of content. But as there will now only be one ESPN-branded channel in the UK, there will be no need to call it ESPN America.
You can register with Virgin to get more info: https://customer.virginmedia.com/forms/btsport/2
I certainly hope that is the case. And seeings as it won't have football I would hope that would free up space on ESPN to continue to show AFL, Indy, DTM, MLB/NBA/AHL etc.
Of course that's on the proviso that its a) on VM and b] at a reasonable sub price.
I presume that the ESPN channel will be free as long as you subscribe to BT Sports 1 and 2, I do not think they will be sold separately, it will come as a bundle or bouquet of channels like ITV Football/Sport and Setanta use to
If it isn't replaced I'm sure plenty of us will be looking to lower our package.
I can't see it being part of or discounted by the XL pack.
It seems unlikely but not impossible, at the moment Virgin pay £2 per XL customer for ESPN, so it would depend if BT would make more from a stand alone package with less take up then from the £2 for every customer, If the monthly fee were £10 then they would have to bank on >than 20% of XL customers taking out the sports pack from them
BT Vision have just started showen one or two shows that have been on Sky Atlantic with the likes of the first season of Blue Bloods that I started watching yesterday. Im also just over halfway though watching the first season of Fallen Skies on BT Vision and im enjoying it.
Darren
"More info for Virgin customers coming asap."
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=65748412&postcount=1748
Virgin will be getting a lot of people either downgrading their TV packages or even leaving if they're in a BT Infinity area, or to stay on the high tier packages they're going to be wanting something in lieu of the soon to be missing football.
Basically what are VM going to be doing for high tier TV subscribers who are soon going to be losing football
http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=3C92E33B-6F97-420C-A5E2-3CDBC4D95929
then log onto BT Sport website.
Yep, ESPN & its live football is the sweetener for high tier subscriptions.
When football moves to BT Sports 1 & 2 then the high tier subscription loses value
Be interesting to see what Virgin's response is else they risk people downgrading and losing revenue per customer, or people leaving altogether.
I do not understand French or Arabic for starters.
Will have to wait and see what happens in the coming months before making any choices.
a few lifestyle channels Vs live football
They know what the real hook to high tier subscriptions was, you're hardly likely to see CBS Drama as a bullet point on promo material in the same way ESPN was.
& whilst ESPN still exists, its like of live football & presumably rugby & moto GP that BT have also signed up will mean it's not the draw it was
I agree. I wonder if VM have something up their sleeve, especially as some channels have now been put into the lower packages of L and M+.
If not, the main benefits for being on XL will be for +1 channels and most of the HD channels.
Two points from this:-
1) No way can I afford an additional £10 to £12 pounds for the BT Sports pack, in fact I don't even intend paying any thing for it.
2) With no ESPN on XL pack what do VM intend to do to stop sports fans from down grading to another pack.
Question for the experts, will loss of ESPN count as a good reason to get a contract change from VM?
thanks