Newcomer ESPN said that it was pleased with its first season, in which its live average Premier League audience was slightly higher than Setanta’s first-season effort.
The Sky and ESPN audiences are likely to be more impressive than the figures suggest, because they do not include the ever-growing numbers watching their high-definition services. Over a quarter of Sky’s subscribers now sign up to HD while about a third of ESPN’s 2.6 million or so subscribers take the ESPN HD channel.
Manchester United was the most-watched club in 2009-10 with its 17 matches on Sky Sports and nine on ESPN attracting more viewers than any other club.
TV Sports Markets, the industry bible for the business of televised sport, gives a detailed viewing analysis of the 2009-10 Premier League season in its next issue, out tomorrow.
