Sports rights are, probably, the biggest single Pay TV subscription driver as the massive money spent by Sky and BT on Premier League games shows.
This should be a particularly interesting year for sports broadcasting with the entry of a big new player in BT. At the moment I am happy with Virgin's sport coverage. For me the inclusion of ESPN in the XL pack just outweighs Sky Sports and a Eurosport channel not being available in HD and Premier Sport not being available at all.
This link, already posted by Den, shows ESPN will be around for the long term.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/media/ne...ll-rights.html
Whether ESPN in the XL pack will be such an advantage to Virgin when they lose the Premier League is open to question.
It will be interesting to see how the sports channels, particularly BT, develop over the year and whether Virgin will change their sports offering both in the XL pack and by individual subscription.
Any news would be appreciated!