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Update: EFL has confirmed BAMTech/ESPN hold the US broadcast rights to Aston Villa and the Championship for the 17/18 campaign. ESPN3/WatchESPN now have matches listed for stream — none are listed for broadcast on the usual channels.
Aston Villa waited a good long time to announce their streaming plan -- and it appears television rights in the United States for the Championship may be reading from the same playbook. When AVTV was announced as the provider to non-TV matches on July 28 — I wrote that a TV broadcast announcement had yet to be made.
When BeIN Sports posted their schedule — Championship matches, including Villa’s, were listed. It was odd — but not unheard of to do so quietly. But then this crossed late today.
BREAKING: ESPN / BAMTech confirm they have acquired rights to @EFL Championship & EFL Cup. New season starts Friday! https://t.co/vTGpGnumNS
— World Soccer Talk (@wsoccertalk) August 3, 2017
WorldSoccerTalk is reporting BAMTech has acquired the broadcast rights AND made a deal with ESPN to stream them on ESPN3.
As of right now — BeIN is not showing any Championship matches on TV but are streaming multiple matches — including Villa/Hull Saturday afternoon. That is a change from earlier this week when BeIN was going to join the match 25 mins in.
ESPN3/WatchESPN does not list any upcoming Championship matches.
EFL is not clear on the situation having released a press release today saying it has released the list of international partners — without providing a link to the actual list. Also the official site says international partners — “To be announced ahead of the 2017/18 season.” They are running out of days.
Stay tuned for updates — 7500toHolte promises to get you an answer on how to watch Villa before Saturday’s kickoff.