TNT Sports 4
TNT Sports 4 is a British sports television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and the BT Group. It is part of the TNT Sports group of channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The channel was established by ESPN Inc. on August 3, 2009, as ESPN, after having acquired a share of rights to English Premier League football. It served as ESPN's first UK channel devoted to domestic sport, as its pan-European sister networks ESPN Classic and ESPN America were devoted to archive content and North American sport respectively. Alongside the Premier League, the channel acquired shares of the rights to the FA Cup, Scottish Premier League, Premiership Rugby, and UEFA Europa League among other properties. The channel also carried coverage of sport from the United States, and ESPN original programmes.
In 2012, ESPN began losing many of its signature sport properties to BT Group and its forthcoming BT Sport service. On 25 February 2013, ESPN announced that it would exit the UK and Ireland market and sell its television operations to BT Group, who integrated the channel into BT Sport upon its launch that August. The channel continued to operate under the ESPN name under licence, and was later co-branded as BT Sport ESPN. In 2015, BT Group reached a long-term deal with ESPN International to continue holding British rights to ESPN-owned sports rights and original programmes.
In August 2022, ahead of the joint venture of BT Sport with Warner Bros. Discovery, the channel dropped the ESPN branding and was rebranded as BT Sport 4, with no change in programmes. It was further rebranded as TNT Sports 4 on 18 July 2023 along with the rest of its sister channels; at this point, the channel began to be programmed with no specific scope.
History
The channel launched on 3 August 2009 following ESPN's acquisition of partial UK broadcast rights to the English Premier League six weeks prior, caused in turn by the financial difficulties of Setanta Sports, which ceased broadcasting in Great Britain at about the same time. It marked ESPN's first foray into live coverage of domestic sports events in the UK. Prior to August 2009, ESPN's only operations in the UK were archive sports channel ESPN Classic, as well as the pan-European ESPN America channel, which focused on North American sport.On 13 June 2012, it was announced that ESPN had missed out on EPL broadcast rights from the 2013–14 to 2015–16 season to Sky Sports and BT, despite making a "strong bid". The news followed speculation that ESPN was reconsidering its position in the UK. In the following months, ESPN also lost the rights to Premiership Rugby, Premiership Rugby Sevens Series and American, Brazilian, French and Italian top-flight football to BT. On 1 February 2013, Broadcast reported that ESPN had entered talks to sell off its remaining sports rights, believed to be worth more than £15m. During The Walt Disney Company's first quarter earnings results conference call on 5 February 2013, Disney's chief financial officer Jay Rasulo confirmed that ESPN had "experienced losses" in the UK and was "exploring an exit". On 25 February 2013, BT agreed to acquire ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels business, which were integrated into BT Sport upon its launch. The value of the deal had not been disclosed, but BT was understood to be paying "low tens of millions".
In January 2015, BT reached a long-term rights deal with ESPN, allowing the network to maintain its affiliation with ESPN International, and its rights to original programmes and sports properties owned by ESPN outright or to which it holds international rights. On 9 June 2015, BT rebranded the channel as BT Sport ESPN.
On 11 May 2022, BT Group announced that the BT Sport channels would become a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, and merge with Eurosport UK at a later date. On 1 August 2022, the ESPN branding was dropped from the channel, which was renamed BT Sport 4.
The launch of TNT Sports in July 2023 saw the channel renamed as TNT Sports 4. The channel's association with American sports coverage also ended; ESPN International would begin to sublicense its college football and basketball coverage to Sky Sports in November 2023.
Availability
Before August 2013
A carriage and retail agreement for both residential and commercial customers was struck with British Sky Broadcasting, who sold the channel through their Sky platform. British Sky Broadcasting's Sky Media also acted as ad sales house for the channel. Some events were also transmitted on Sky 3D including the Winter X Games XV, 2011 FA Cup Final and 2011 NBA Finals. From 22 July 2011 ESPN was available without additional charge to full Sky Sports Pack subscribers in Ireland.ESPN is available on Virgin Media in standard and high definition as a part of the XL pack. M, M+ or L pack customers can subscribe to ESPN and BT Sport. A discount was previously available to Sky Sports subscribers. After the acquisition of ESPN by BT Sport on 1 August 2013, Virgin Media customers lost access to ESPN channels, despite Virgin Media and BT being in talks for more than 2 months prior to the switch over. ESPN and ESPN HD returned on 15 August after BT signed a wholesale deal with Virgin Media for the carriage of BT Sport.
Top Up TV carried ESPN from 4 August 2009. A connection fee applied to non-Top Up TV subscribers, ex-Setanta digital terrestrial television customers or those without a viewing card. On 26 July 2011 Top Up TV announced that ESPN would be available via a conditional-access module when the CAM service was launched in August.
BT Vision has carried ESPN from 4 August 2009 as part of BT Vision's Value Packs.
On both BT Vision and Top Up TV, ESPN broadcasts from 14:00 – 04:00 on weekdays, 11:00 – 06:00 on Saturday and 11:00 – 04:00 on Sunday.
TalkTalk TV carried ESPN from 14 August 2009, along with ESPN America.
ESPN was available on Smallworld Cable without additional charge when taken with the Ultimate HD TV Pack. Other customers can subscribe to ESPN.
On 14 August 2009, a deal with cable company UPC Ireland and ESPN was reached. On that date ESPN and ESPN HD launched on UPC. A discount is available to Sky Sports or Setanta Sports 1 subscribers. ESPN America ceased to be part of the Setanta Sports package on that date, and was bundled with ESPN instead. On 4 January 2010, UPC and ESPN announced a new deal whereby ESPN and ESPN America would become part of UPC's Digital Select Extra and Digital Max packages.
ESPN offered a number of free periods, ranging between a weekend and a month. In February 2012 a free weekend covered a Premier League match between Manchester City and Fulham, marking the first time that a Premier League fixture had been broadcast free-to-air in the UK. During the same weekend the channel was also available on TVCatchup.
From August 2013
After ESPN's acquisition by BT Group in 2013, BT have included ESPN as part of their BT Sport Pack and is available on Sky, Virgin Media, and BT TV, as well as online via the BT Sport website and BT Sport app. BT Sport 4 was also available in the Republic of Ireland through eir Sport.Content
This section describes the content that ESPN UK was showing when BT Sport morphed ESPN UK into a channel focused mainly on American sport.Basketball
On 30 July 2009, ESPN announced a deal to air EuroBasket.Cricket
On 22 July 2010, ESPN agreed a deal with the West Indies Cricket Board for exclusive UK broadcast rights to the inaugural Caribbean T20 Tournament. The event, which ran from 22 to 31 July, featured eight West Indian Twenty20 teams, including Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Toboago and the Windward Islands competing to win the Caribbean Twenty20 title. These rights now air on BT Sport.The channel has also completed a deal to show the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League tournament in August 2012.
Football
Premier League
The company announced on 22 June 2009 that it had secured the UK broadcast rights to the Premier League for four seasons, airing 46 games in the 2009–10 season and 23 games a year for the following three seasons, following a missed payment by Setanta Sports which voided their contracts. In Ireland, ESPN will air the same 46 matches during the 2009–10 season.Premier League coverage was produced by Sky Sports in-house production team, with former BBC presenter Ray Stubbs hosting, while Rebecca Lowe reports from the touchline and Jon Champion and either Chris Waddle or Craig Burley calling the game. Kevin Keegan is the lead analyst, while Guus Hiddink, Shaka Hislop, Frank Leboeuf, Danny Murphy, Peter Reid, Matt Holland, and Ian Wright were also signed to provide analysis. Mark Chapman, Nat Coombs and Kelly Cates also form a part of the line up. IMG Sports Media make the studio shows and ancillary programming. The first Premier League match to be shown on ESPN was Everton's 6–1 loss against Arsenal.
From the 2010–11 season Sky no longer produced coverage of matches, instead coverage was taken over by IMG Sports Media, in an effort to offer "quality and innovation" and introduce new technology from the broadcaster's US parent to help develop post-match analysis. The change also affected FA Cup and Scottish Premier League coverage. ESPN have also increased the number of cameras at games from an average of 16 cameras to 23. After ESPN lost the rights to the Premier League to BT Sport, ESPN Inc. sold the channel to BT Sport.
FA Cup
On 7 December 2009, it was reported that ESPN had secured the rights to 25 live and exclusive FA Cup matches per season from the 2010–11 season under a four-season deal. ESPN televised two matches in the FA Cup First and Second Rounds, three matches from the Third to Fifth Rounds, two quarter-finals, one semi-final, and aired the FA Cup Final alongside ITV.ESPN's offer is thought to have been 60% higher than that tabled by the BBC, however, that bid is also understood to be for a longer contract period and still worth substantially less than the amount paid by Setanta.
The 2011, 2012, and 2013 FA Cup finals were shown live on ESPN. In 2012 and 2013 the buildup coverage for the finals started from eight in the morning with 5.15 evening kick-offs. An outside standing studio was set up behind the goals for pre-match and post-match analysis presented by Ray Stubbs. As ESPN was acquired by the BT Group before the start of the 2013–14 season, the final year of ESPN's FA Cup contract, coverage of the competition moved to BT Sport.