ESPN+ will complement its sister network ESPN Latin America, which has been in Argentina since 1989. While ESPN Latin America will continue to feature a wide variety of the best of international sports leagues and events, ESPN+ will offer a strong line-up of local and regional sports programming, including the best of Argentine national team competitions in rugby, soccer, basketball and volleyball.
The programming flexibility of ESPN+ will also allow it to provide enhanced coverage of Spanish league football and UEFA Champions League football.
The arrival of ESPN+ also allows for the debut of several new live editions of SportsCenter, Latin America's pre-eminent sports news and information program. ESPN+ will offer live editions of SportsCenter Monday to Friday at 8pm and three times a day on Saturday and Sunday.
In addition, the original midnight edition of SportsCenter will now be simulcast on both ESPN+ and ESPN Latin America.
ESPN+, which initially launched in more than 2.5m homes in Argentina on May 1, is now available in more than 4m homes as a result of a new carriage agreement with CableVision. Other cable or satellite affiliates for ESPN+ include Multicanal, Supercanal, DirecTV Latin America, and Sky.
ESPN+ also has limited distribution in Paraguay and Uruguay. Like the existing ESPN Latin America service, ESPN+ will be presented in Spanish.
Willy Burkhardt, executive vice-president ESPN Enterprises and ESPN International, said: "The launch of ESPN+ is another example of the exciting growth we have been experiencing with ESPN in Latin America. It is also consistent with our strategy, which has been to develop two services in each of the key markets within the region -- one that provides the best in international events, sports news, and information and another channel that offers a superior local and regional product."
While ESPN Latin America is a pan-regional service that is seen in more than 40 countries and territories throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, ESPN+ joins ESPN2 in Mexico and Central America and ESPN Brazil as networks that specialise in local and regional sports programming.
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