Update: as per the comments below, it looks like the published schedule may not be correct and these games are only available on International Eurosport, not Eurosport UK. Hopefully we’ll get clarification soon
Baseball fans in the U.K. will have two TV channels on which to watch games from the forthcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC), with Eurosport joining ESPN America in offering live baseball from the premier international tournament.
ESPN America, as the home of MLB in the UK and throughout Europe, was the natural host for the WBC and they’ve already confirmed that they will be showing games from the event.
However, the news that Eurosport are also broadcasting some games as well is a real bonus.
The channel has shown baseball games in the past, from European Baseball Championship games to the World Cup, so there was always a hope that they might get involved.
Their online UK TV guide shows that they are broadcasting games on Friday 8, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 March and a quick check of the WBC schedule reveals that Eurosport will be following the fortunes of Spain in these contests.
The Spanish national team will compete at the WBC for the first time in the third staging of the event after coming through a qualifying competition in September. Spain will join the traditional powerhouses of Italy and the Netherlands in representing European baseball at the tournament.
They face a very difficult task in emerging from their First Round group as they are up against Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, all of whom have several MLB All-Stars on their rosters. However, it will be a great challenge to compete against the likes of Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Robinson Cano, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval and Miguel Cabrera.
Details on MLB.com’s online coverage of the WBC are still to be announced. It is expected that a subscription package for the event, separate from the main 2013 MLB.TV Premium subscription, will be available to sign up to in the next couple of days.
I emailed British Eurosport for more details. Here was their reply:
11:24 AM (37 minutes ago)
to me
Hi Rob,
Thanks for your email.
Unfortunately British Eurosport do not have the rights to show the baseball. Only Eurosport International will be showing the event.
Kind Regards,
Joe
10:10 AM (1 hour ago)
to ukcomms
Hi
It looks like you have some live World Classic coverage starting
weekend of March 8th. Would it be possible for you to email me an
outline detailing your coverage of the tournament? I can’t find one
online anywhere.
Best Wishes
So I’ve just emailed them back for clarification as the games are in the British schedule.
Thanks for the update Rob. Will be a shame if they’re not on in the U.K. after all.
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Spain vs Puerto Rico (March 8th)
and
Spain vs Venezuela (March 10th) will be shown live on ESPN America in the UK.
Dom Rep vs Spain will be aired as-live on March 10th.
Thanks Nick. That backs up the potential that Eurosport are only broadcasting outside the UK.
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I set up a series link on ESPN America for WBC games on my TiVo box and it seems to have picked up several Eurosport2 broadcasts too
Good news. Thanks for the update