ESPN: No longer the "worldwide" leader

[buckweaver]

According to this story by The National, ESPN channels are no longer available in most of Europe, the Middle East and Africa as of August 1.

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/north-american-sport/espn-network-is-no-longer-a-worldwide-leader-in-sports-for-uae

ESPN has been retreating from the broadcast arena in most of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since early this year. The three channels available in the UAE – ESPN, ESPN Classic and ESPN America – carried a wide variety of North American sports, from coverage of Major League Baseball, the National Football League and college football and basketball to analysis, talk shows and highlight shows. Subscribers to Etisalat paid US$8 (Dh30) monthly for the three stations, or nearly double what US subscribers are charged.

ESPN's international visibility increased when it bought the former North American Sports Network in 2007, and renamed it ESPN America in 2009. Now it appears to be going the other way.

This month, the ESPN America website offered a "thank you" to its viewers, and suggested they continue to follow sports through the company's other media avenues – broadband, pay windows on its website and social media.

ESPN spokesperson Paul Melvin, said via email that the network will continue to have a presence in Great Britain and Ireland through an agreement with BT Sports, reached in February.

"Following that," Melvin wrote, "ESPN reviewed its wider regional business and made some strategic decisions to cease operations of our TV channels and shift our focus in the EMEA region" to other media platforms.

BTW, the article's written by a name which may be familiar to longtime SoCal journalists and readers: Gregg Patton.