Many British fans of North American sports have been waiting with some trepidation for Monday 3 August to come around.  That date marks the launch of the new ESPN channel.  The initial reports had stated that it would replace ESPN America, the one place on British TV where you can currently watch MLB.  Those fears were increased by the fact that ESPN will take over the previous channel number, 417 on Sky, occupied by ESPN America.

Thankfully it has just been confirmed that ESPN America will continue to be broadcast in the UK.  It will be available as a subscription package alongside the new ESPN and ESPN-HD channels.  Although it won’t be ideal for some people (having to pay for the other channels that they may not want), it’s a much better outcome than was expected. 

Full subscription details are available at the ESPN America website.

The only downside to the breaking news is that it means my article on the launch of the new ESPN channel (and what it would mean for fans of North America sports), due to be published first thing tomorrow morning, is now completely wrong!  I’ll put together some new thoughts on the news and publish them sometime tomorrow.