ESPN pours cold water on Sportflix link

International sports broadcaster ESPN has joined rival Fox Sports Latin America in saying that it “has not engaged with Sportflix in any way” ahead of the launch of the over-the-top streaming platform on August 30.

The platform, which has promised to offer coverage of hundreds of sporting events in Latin America, reportedly expects to have about 400,000 subscribers by the end of 2017, with 20,000 pre-registrations already having been logged, according to the Todo TV News website.

However, Fox Sports Latin America said last week that it had not entered into a partnership with Sportflix.

In a statement released to SportBusiness International, ESPN said: “ESPN works with the owners and rights sellers of the content we air and we will take all the necessary actions to protect our products from piracy and illegal use.”

Sportflix is set to offer rights to leagues including American football’s NFL, the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts promotion and North American ice hockey league the NHL.