Sports channel ESPN will be making its channel available to everyone for free, for one weekend in February.
Between 6am on the morning of Friday 3rd February 2012, and 6am on Monday the 6th February 2012, the ESPN channel will be free-to-view on the following services:
The following sporting events will be available on ESPN over the weekend:
Friday the 3rd February :
- 19:30 – LIVE Bundesliga: Nuremberg v Dortmund
Saturday the 4th February:
- 01:00 – LIVE NBA New York @ Boston
- 16.30 – LIVE Barclays Premier League: Manchester City v Fulham
- 19:45 – LIVE Serie A: Roma v Inter Milan
Sunday the 6th February:
- 03:00 – LIVE UFC 143 St Pierre v Diaz
- 11:30 – LIVE Serie A: Genoa v Lazio
- 13:45 – LIVE Serie A: Fiorentina v Udinese
- 16:45 – LIVE Bundesliga: Kaiserslauern v Cologne
- 19:15 – LIVE Serie A: AC Milan v Napoli
Well done to ESPN for offering their content for free for a weekend – doubtless to try to tempt sports lovers over to their pay service. If you’re interested in getting ESPN, see our ESPN in the UK page for information and offers.
Specials for Sky
All Sky customers will be able to watch ESPN over the weekend, but it won’t be limited to the main ESPN channel – The other ESPN channels will also be free – That’s ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN America and ESPN America HD (although not, it appears, ESPN classic).
If you’re considering getting Sky, it’s worth noting that they are once again offering a free Sky+ box with free standard installation, plus a £50 voucher, but only until the 23rd of February. More details: Sky+ Offer
More on ESPN
For information on the ways to subscribe to ESPN, see our ESPN in the UK section.
I checked the next weekend EPG listings on Freeview for any hope of a freebie, but nothing was listed, so it was welcome news to get your News Update concerning the first weekend in February offer and that a few extra channels are on Sky as well. The HD channel will be worth checking, too. Those with Sky + Planners will be allowed to make ESPN channel recordings, hopefully, but they will be denied access when the freebie weekend offer ends, so copy off any recordings before then. Those with Freeview ESPN can record as well and copy off to external hard drive, I presume. Worth checking and worth recording to VCRs or DVD Recorders while still available. Even so, some Freeview boxes have long Timeshift playback stored on the hard drive, so maybe extra chances to play and record that way.
can’t wait it’s about time we get something free, anyone know if
there will be new freeview channels coming in 2012
When we visit the Freeview website, the availability postcode checker displays the current stations and any to be made available during the Digital Switchover:
http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability
If I upgrade to HD, I get 4 more channels eg BBC1 and BBC HD and ITV1 HD and 4 HD.
A recent forum discussion tells us that BBC HD is to become BBC Two HD instead.
https://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1323088412/5#5
Freeview set top boxes sometimes alert us with onscreen updates of new channels, but poor reception in Winter conditions may affect these results to include other transmitters and their stations, too.
http://tinyurl.com/wikipedia-channels
See Future events for 2012 and 2013 as more updates are made available there.
More news updates here:
http://www.ukfree.tv/
http://www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051875
Extra Freeview channels being considered according to this info.
The Freeview group numbers aren’t so low as to seriously affect the wideband all-frequencies aerials that often get weaker reception, especially in the Winter. Even so, as Freeview’s been around for years, some home installations will require the external cables replaced anyway. Those who qualify for the BBC Helpscheme may wish to get their home installation assessed as to whether the outside cables are the recommended WF100 type or similar. As this type’s highly recommended for most aerial installations. If dozens of extra HD channels are to be added in the next 5 years, these will add extra help for backups to our existing recording attempts. We may choose to invest extra money in twin TV tuners to record 2 shows at once and especially in HD recorders with extra auto-padding ie adding a few minutes before and after a TV show just in case… Until then, we may try using the manual start and end times using the recording timers or +1 channels or checking EPG listings for future repeated showings to try again. Furthermore, we may invest in USB exporting to external hard drives with so many extra channels being suggested.
Glad to see ESPN if temporary going free on Freeview for one weekend in Feb I cannot see how people will subscribe when people are cutting back I know it cheap per month ESPN I hope they realise when analysing the viewing figures for the Free weekend that its high due to the fact that is free and nothing else ie potential subscribers AND FREEVIEW IS LONGER IN NEED OF A FREE TO AIR SPORTS CHANNEL ESP AFTER SKY SPORTS NEWS WAS TAKEN OFF BY SKY PAY TV SURELY AT SOME POINT HAS TO COME TO A SATUATION POINT WHY NOT OFFER ESPN 2 FREE AND BRING SKY SPORTS NEWS BULLETINS AND SOCCER SATURDAY TO PICK TV
Glad to see ESPN if temporary going free on Freeview for one weekend in Feb I cannot see how people will subscribe when people are cutting back I know it cheap per month ESPN I hope they realise when analysing the viewing figures for the Free weekend that its high due to the fact that is free and nothing else ie potential subscribers AND FREEVIEW IS LONGER IN NEED OF A FREE TO AIR SPORTS CHANNEL ESP AFTER SKY SPORTS NEWS WAS TAKEN OFF BY SKY PAY TV SURELY AT SOME POINT HAS TO COME TO A SATUATION POINT WHY NOT OFFER ESPN 2 FREE AND BRING SKY SPORTS NEWS BULLETINS AND SOCCER SATURDAY TO PICK TV
Glad to see ESPN if temporary going free on Freeview for one weekend in Feb I cannot see how people will subscribe when people are cutting back I know it cheap per month ESPN I hope they realise when analysing the viewing figures for the Free weekend that its high due to the fact that is free and nothing else ie potential subscribers AND FREEVIEW IS LONGER IN NEED OF A FREE TO AIR SPORTS CHANNEL ESP AFTER SKY SPORTS NEWS WAS TAKEN OFF BY SKY PAY TV SURELY AT SOME POINT HAS TO COME TO A SATUATION POINT TV