ESPN ANNOUNCES LIVE FOOTBALL PRESENTER AND COMMENTATOR LINE-UP

Rebecca Lowe Joins Ray Stubbs on ESPN’s Presenting TeamMark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Darrell Currie complete the line-upJon Champion and Derek Rae to Lead Live Match Commentary

ESPN today announced its main line-up of broadcasting talent, with the addition of six new hosts and commentators for its live coverage of 46 Barclays Premier League, 30 Clydesdale Bank Premier League matches and other key international football matches.

Rebecca Lowe will be the new co-host of ESPN’s football coverage, joining Ray Stubbs. Mark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Darrell Currie will also join Ray and Rebecca on the presenting team. Jon Champion and Derek Rae will be ESPN’s commentators, with years of top flight match commentary between them. With a combined broadcasting experience spanning BBC television and radio, ITV, Sky, CNN, Channel 5, Setanta and ESPN the new signings will bring football fans an incredible wealth of sporting knowledge as well as energy and enthusiasm

Announcing these new additions to the ESPN presenting team, Jeroen Oerlemans, ESPN’s Vice President, Channels, for Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “We’re extremely happy to bring Rebecca, Mark, Kelly and Darrell on board to the ESPN presenting team for the coming season’s Barclays Premier League and Clydesdale Bank Premier League live football coverage. In Jon Champion and Derek Rae we have two of football’s finest and most distinctive commentators, who will no doubt engage with fans of English and Scottish top flight football alike. Along with Ray Stubbs’ experience in football broadcasting, we are confident the new team will bring their knowledge and flair to set the stage for this season’s exciting sports calendar.”

Rebecca Lowe’s rise to fame through the BBC’s Talent Search for a football reporter has lead her to work on Final Score, Football Focus and Match of the Day, as well as reporting from the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Rebecca and Ray will be co-hosts from 15 August, when ESPN airs its first Premier League game.

Heading up ESPN’s Barclays Premier League match commentary as Chief Commentator, Jon Champion brings with him over 20 years of broadcasting experience, from FA Cup and Premier League matches through to cricket, swimming and rugby. His counterpart on Clydesdale Bank Premier League matches, Derek Rae is a former British Sports Broadcaster of the Year, and a hugely popular voice of ESPN, commentating on over 150 football matches a year for ESPN over the last 12 years.

Sports presenter, journalist, BBC 5 Live anchor and Radio 1 DJ, Mark Chapman has recently presented Match of the Day, anchoring the BBCs live coverage of Italy v Northern Ireland. Mark has also hosted Five's live Serie A coverage, Football Italiano, as well as its weekly football show, Football Night.

Having established herself as one of the main faces of Sky Sports News, Kelly Cates (formerly Kelly Dalglish) also went on to cover the World Cup and European Championships. Kelly’s work on television includes coverage of live Premier League and FA Cup matches and, on the radio, Kelly was talkSPORT’s first female host and continues to work regularly on BBC Radio Five Live.

With previous producing, reporting and presenting roles for Radio Clyde, BBC Scotland Television, CNN International Sport and Setanta, Darrell Currie’s experience includes coverage of The Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Barclays Premier League, FA Cup and Magners League Live Rugby.

ESPN secured the rights to 46 Barclays Premier League games for the 2009/10 season. The new ESPN channel begins its top flight football coverage on Saturday 15th August at 5.30 pm with the clash between Everton and Arsenal, last season’s 4th and 5th place finishers, at Goodison Park.

The Scottish Premier League awarded Sky Sports and ESPN the exclusive live rights to Clydesdale Bank Premier League games for the next five seasons. ESPN’s opening live coverage of the season will feature the 7:45pm fixture between Dundee United and Hearts on Saturday 17th August.

ESPN plans to make its new live sports coverage widely available across multiple Pay-TV platforms. As part of this distribution strategy, ESPN has already reached agreements for its coverage to be retailed by Sky and Virgin Media.