ESPN is a Dutch group of

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

sports channels, owned by

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...

, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

(which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the

Hearst Communications Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

(which owns the remaining 20%) and operated by Eredivisie Media & Marketing CV in which The Walt Disney Company (Benelux) BV has 51% ownership. ESPN launched as Fox Sports on 1 August 2013, buying out the Eredivisie Live service from the Dutch Football League. On 31 December 2020, it was renamed ESPN after the

acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney The acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. by The Walt Disney Company was announced on December 14, 2017, and was completed on March 20, 2019. Among other key assets, the acquisition included the 20th Century Fox film and television studi ...

in 2019. ESPN offers 4 HD channels and 1 Ultra HD channel,

Video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

services and ESPN app. Its main competitor is the Dutch

premium television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, bu ...

service

Ziggo Sport Totaal Ziggo Sport Totaal is a Dutch premium television service operated by Ziggo and owned by VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Liberty Global and Vodafone. Ziggo Sport Totaal launched as Sport1 with its sister service Film1 on 1 February 2006 ...

History

It launched as Eredivisie Live at the start of the 2008–09 season on 29 August 2008. Highlights of the Eredivisie can be seen on the national public broadcaster NOS. The pundit team includes Jan van Halst,

Mario Been Marinus Antonius Been (born 11 December 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. As a footballer, Been played for Feyenoord, Pisa, Roda JC, Heerenveen, Tirol Innsbruck and Excelsior. He played in an attacking midf ...

and

Pierre van Hooijdonk Pierre van Hooijdonk (; born 29 November 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. He had spells with clubs across Europe where he was a prolific goal scorer. Van Hooijdonk was capped 46 times for the Netherland ...

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

provides a weekly analysis of the matches, which can be seen on the website of Eredivisie Live. The website also offers

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

matches. Between the 2009–10 and 2012–13 seasons, Eredivisie Live broadcast the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

live on Thursdays. From 2013–14 the coverage switched to sister service

Fox Sports International Fox Sports International (FSI) was an international sportscasting and production division of Fox Networks Group, the television networks division of News Corporation and later 21st Century Fox that was active from 1995 to 15 February 2024. After ...

for matches of non-Dutch clubs. In August 2013, the Eredivisie Media & Marketing CV would establish another two channels which included

while Eredivisie Live was rebranded into Fox Sports Eredivisie on 1 August 2013. On 20 March 2019 The Walt Disney Company acquired

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

, including Fox Networks Group Benelux and Fox's 51% stake on the channel. Since July 2019, Fox Sports 1 is part of the

KPN Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch List of telephone operating companies, telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterda ...

provider basic package. On 1 October 2020, it was announced that the networks would rebrand as ESPN on 31 December 2020, due to the

. The number of linear television channels was reduced to 4 on 2 August 2021. ESPN Ultra HD launched on 2 August 2021, During the Johan Cruijff Schaal. This also was

Evert ten Napel Evert is a Dutch and Swedish short form of the Germanic masculine name "Everhard" (alternative Eberhard).Evert
at the

's last match as ESPN commentator. On the 6th of February 2024 it was announced that for the first time by immediate effect all Keuken Kampioen Divisie and

Vrouwen Eredivisie The Vrouwen Eredivisie (; Dutch for "Honour Division"; ''Eredivisie Vrouwen'' before 2020), also known as the Eurojackpot Vrouwen Eredivisie due to a sponsorship contract, is the highest women's football league in the Netherlands. Organized by th ...

matches will be able to be watched live for ESPN Subscribers, With 2 Keuken Kampioen Divisie matches on Friday on linear TV and the rest only to be able to be watched online by ESPN Extra (which you can access only with ESPN Watch).

Channels

*ESPN *ESPN2 *ESPN3 *ESPN4 *ESPN Ultra HD *ESPN Extra (only on ESPN Watch which is a digital app/website for subscribers)

Coverage

Football

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: All games live *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: All games live * Keuken Kampioen Divisie: At least two live games per week with a switch program for all Friday games (Voetbal op Vrijdag) (All remaining games live on Friday on ESPN Extra which is on ESPN Watch) *

: All games live *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

CONMEBOL Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tourname ...

CONMEBOL Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

CONMEBOL Recopa The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It is a match-up between ...

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League (, ) is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament takes pla ...

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

CONCACAF W Champions Cup The CONCACAF W Champions Cup is an annual continental women's football club competition organized by CONCACAF that determines the club champion for the region encompassing North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is comparable to ...

* AFC

American football

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

* NCAA College Football

Baseball

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Basketball

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

: Six live games per week * NCAA College Basketball

Ice hockey

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

: Three live games per week

References

{{Television in the Netherlands

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Television channels in the Netherlands Television channels and stations established in 2013 2013 establishments in the Netherlands Eredivisie Sports television networks