ESPN’s North American Sports Network is to join the Sky Italia DTH platform. The deal is the 40th country where NASN has secured carriage and also includes the provision of over 800 hours of HD content to the local proprietary sports channel Sky Sport – itself the largest international HD syndication deal reached by the Disney-owned network.
NASN, has grown steadily since being acquired by ESPN in 2006, and is expected to take the name of its owner later this year.
NASN will commence broadcasting on April 8 and will be available as part of the Sky Italia sports pack. Sister channel ESPN Classic has been available in Italian DTH households since July 2002.