Some of you may have seen a few items related to the English Premier League broadcast rights. Sentanta has gone into receivership and their UK broadcast rights have been pulled. ESPN has won the rights to broadcast 46 live Premier League matches in the United Kingdom for the 2009-10 season, and has also been awarded a contract for the 2010-13 seasons.

For those who read the notice closely, you will have noticed that they are UK rights, not USA rights. As Ive’s notes

What it might mean is better coverage of the EPL on programs like Sportscenter, and improved soccer coverage on ESPN as it handles covering the EPL in England.

In related news, ESPN struck a deal with GolTV to partner in multimedia broadcast coverage of the Spanish League, which includes FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The new deal will allow ESPN to show La Liga matches on ESPN, ESPN Deportes as well as ESPN360.com. More than 95 matches will be shown on Deportes, with at least 114 matches set to be streamed on ESPN360.com. ESPN2 will televise select matches (‘Super Clasico anybody?) while ESPN Mobile TV will also air matches. GolTV will continue to air its 120 La Liga matches throughout the year.

By the way, I’ve been contacted by both Fox & Hound as well as Boomer’s, the place taking over the old Coester’s space, regarding the possibility of broadcasting soccer and attracting our community. So we’re keeping a close eye on how we’ll get our fix. Look for updates right here!