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ONdigital, the pay-television group, is planning to launch its own premiumsports channel to coincide with the start of the next football season.The channel will screen coverage of the Nationwide League and Worthington Cupafter ONdigital secured the broadcast rights in partnership with ITV in athree-year deal worth ?315m last year.
ONdigital is adding the Nationwide League to its cover age of the EuropeanChampions’ League and the so called “super nine” ATP tennis tournaments. Thetwo events are now screened on ONsport, a channel included in the broadcaster’sbasic package.
A spokeswoman for ONdigital said the new channel would be offered to rivalplatforms in the same way that Sky Sports and the NTL-owned British Eurosportare carried by rival broadcasters. It is not yet decided whether the newchannel will use the ONsport branding.
The launch represents a further ratcheting up in the competition for sportsrights. NTL, which owns British Eurosport, is also planning the launch of achannel which will include the BBC as a minority share holder, provisionallycalled British Sport.
The Nationwide League deal will see live matches broadcast on Thursdays andSundays, with pay-per-view games played on Friday nights.
ITV will also screen some Sunday matches and a high lights show as part of thedeal which netted the league four times more than its existing TV package.
The spokeswoman said that ONdigital has enough quality content to sustain apremium channel but was also on the look out for other sports rights toinclude.
Presenters for the new channel are being kept under wraps as is the subscriptionprice – although the spokeswoman said it would be competitive with the likesof Sky Sports.
News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2001.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.