ESPN's live UK channel appears to have gone from strength to strength since it first hit our screens in 2009.
Here, Sports Mole spoke to Simon Potter, the company's senior director of programming in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to discuss the broadcaster's growth over the past three years, as well as their plans for the future.
How has the main channel evolved since its launch in 2009?
"While our live channel was launched in the wake of Setanta's collapse, it was something that we had been thinking about and looking at for some time independent to the situation. ESPN had a choice of buying Setanta outright but it decided not to do that. Having decided that it was going to show Premier League matches, ESPN had six weeks to sort everything out before launching. I wasn't with the channel at the time but as I understand it, it was very obvious what the key properties are. The likes of the Premier League have been the building blocks for the service to evolve. However, it soon became obvious that we became over reliant on football. So I think what we've been aiming to do recently is improve the range of sports that we offer. Obviously the Aviva Premiership was a part of that and it attracted a new demographic, a more white collar demographic to the channel. We've also added tennis, golf, darts and we're looking at cricket and all sorts of other things."
You have rights to screen Premier League games but is the Football League something you'd be interested in in the future?
"We looked at it very closely. The rights came out and although Sky have got all the rights at the moment it is definitely something we would look at in the future."
You mentioned golf earlier, a sport you screened for the first time recently. How did that do and are the any plans for more live golf?
"It did really well for us. Of course your Majors and the British Open are very, very expensive so we'd have to be very judicious about getting into a bidding war with other broadcasters. But long term it is certainly in our sights."
You showed a Premier League game free-to-air for the first time in February on Freeview. How did that go and is it something you'd do again in the future?
"It was a success and it brought a significant number of viewers to the channel. It spreads awareness of the channel. It is not official, but I'd be very surprised if this is something that we don't try again."
You have original studio shows like PressPass on your books. How important are they to the evolution of the network and how will they develop?
"I think PressPass has been great for us because it has given us more personality. Outside of our live sports properties a lot of the stuff we have in the schedule can be presenter-led, but it was very obvious that they have been syndicated to other TV channels. The fact that PressPass is ours gives us a tone and voice. We want to do more of those, but more self-produced things rather than just taking stuff of the shelf that other broadcasters have got."
Do you foresee an ESPN News channel? Or do Sky have that market covered?
"That's a very good question. We have looked at it, but I think we would have to offer something very different to Sky because they have cornered the market. I'm not sure we'd offer a rolling sports news service along the same lines as Sky. Setanta tried that and it is a difficult thing to pull off. There is no definite plan on anything at present."
French football is quite popular on Sports Mole. Are there any plans to screen some live on ESPN?
"We have the French Cup final and the French League Cup final this year. I'm sure we'll be offered the rights because there is a new agency selling the property. We keep an eye on the French league. If David Beckham had gone to PSG it may have forced us into a decision a bit earlier. But it is certainly something we will keep looking at."
Could we perhaps see a second ESPN channel in the future?
"It is partly dependent on our Premier League auction which is coming up soon. If we are successful in that, we'd have to look very seriously at a second channel. The weekends are a big challenge to us and a lot of other factors would have to come into play. There are no plans in place at that moment, but you cannot rule it out."
Are there any plans in place to cover the upcoming Olympic Games?
"We cannot cover the Olympics for the UK market because it is a listed event so it has to go on to free-to-air. However, we will be facilitating a lot of our ESPN territories overseas. We have a broadcast base near the stadium which has a 24/7 facility going. Our exposure will be very limited because we cannot show any of the action but we will acknowledge it."
Simon Potter was speaking to Sports Mole at the ESPN studios yesterday afternoon.
