[Satellite News 07-07-09] ESPN is a household name for sports broadcasting in North America, but the company is intent on becoming more of a force on the international landscape, Russell Wolff, executive vice president and managing director of ESPN International, told Satellite News.ESPN’s acquisition of U.K. Premier League soccer rights in late June was a significant development for the company, said Wolff. With these rights, ESPN will be able to screen 46 games in the 2009-2010 season and then 23 games per season until 2013 — a breakthrough for the broadcasting giant’s aspirations of international popularity.
Wolff discussed the network’s plans in the United Kingdom, the role that high-definition (HD) programming will play and how ESPN aims to establish an internationally recognized brand name.
Satellite News: What are the major challenges for ESPN to make this a success in difficult economic times?
Wolff: We are experienced, strategic and patient. Our core pillars for growth are, first, organic growth — expanding networks that are already built. Secondly, we focus on next-level localization — the English Premier League rights really fits into that as it helps us go to the next level in the U.K. market. The third pillar for our growth is brand extensions — whether that is ESPN Mobile, ESPNradio or ESPN The Magazine, we take great concepts and look to extend our brand in multimedia offerings. The fourth pillar of growth for us is through strategic acquisitions — we have bought four key companies in the last two-and-a-half years: NASN, which has been rebranded to ESPN America, and Scrum.com, Racing-Live.com and Cricinfo.com. Finally, hiring smart local executives is also key as they understand the local fans and the local market.
Satellite News: What has ESPN learned from its experience with Setanta, which shut down its services in June due to lack of funding?
Wolff: We worked together with Setanta for a number of years, both in the United Kingdom and around the world. We’re not going to comment on their business, but ESPN has, for many years, been in the business of trying to value rights and figure the right price to pay for them to create good, smart businesses. That is the core of what we do. That is something we have been engaged with in the United Kingdom for a number of years, whether it was in previous bids for the Premier League or bids in other countries for other rights. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out the right price to pay for rights, whether a single group of rights or an accumulation of them. We have always been willing to look at any deal that made business sense, but at the same time, not afraid to walk away when things did not make business sense for us.
Satellite News: Can you get a competitive advantage in terms of HD in international markets, where even now there is still a lack of HD content?
Wolff: We certainly think of ourselves as leaders in HD, both in the United States and in other markets. When we launched in Australia, we were one of only five HD channels to launch there on Foxtel and one of only two sports channels. But you can only launch in HD where the pay-TV provider has the infrastructure to carry it. You need to be very collaborative to find ways to exploit HD. HD is really good for a lot of genres, but it is outstanding for sports. We have launched HD networks outside of the United States, for example, in both Australia and in Brazil. We will be launching an HD version of our channels when we come out with the Premier League. We are working tirelessly to get the channel up by Aug. 3 and then have HD ready for early September.
Satellite News: What are ESPN’s aspirations in Europe?
Wolff: We already have ESPN Classic and ESPN America in over 40 countries in Europe and in 19 across the Middle East. We have two channels in almost every market. The next step in any given market is to figure out if there is a good business in creating that live local version of that content, and we are engaged in that exercise around Europe on a regular basis. We want to build ESPN’s European presence as we serve sports fans in every market. We think we are making good progress with our digital properties also, whether ESPNSoccernet, ESPNscrum, ESPNCricinfo or racinglive.com
Satellite News: Are you going to be making an active effort to pick up more localized rights internationally?
Wolff: We look at rights to see what the business proposition around them is. We are certainly engaged with our team here to evaluate those bid opportunities when they come up. You should expect us to look at other major rights. If it makes sense, we will try to do a deal. You can look at our presence in Latin America, where we have two live sports channels that carry football, Argentine rugby, CONCACAF, UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga in Brazil and Italian football in Mexico. Our networks in India — through the ESPN Star sports joint venture — carry some of the best live cricket there, such as the 20/20 championship, for example. So we are well on that road in many places, but we are going to push and explore and get there in other territories where we are not.
We clearly want things that sports fans are most interested in. One of the great brand values of ESPN International has been variety and diversity of content. We want to have the best content in any given market, as well as other content to try and broaden the offering. We want to appeal to the widest number of fans.
We clearly want things that sports fans are most interested in. One of the great brand values of ESPN International has been variety and diversity of content. We want to have the best content in any given market, as well as other content to try and broaden the offering. We want to appeal to the widest number of fans.
Satellite News: Are you looking at a pay-per-view model in these territories?
Wolff: Every market is different. We are focused on broad distribution across the main platforms. Each platform is different within the market. When you sit down and bid for rights you need to know that every market is different. You have to think about the industry structure, regulatory regimes and competitive marketplaces in over 200 countries.
