Published: 11.12 Europe/London, April 1, 2011 by Julian Clover

ESPN has unveiled a new look and feel to its ESPN Classic channel featuring contemporary artwork designed to reflect moments in sporting history. A new musical score has been composed by Hear No Evil and electronic musician, Si Begg and 80 hours of new archive content has been acquired by the BBC.

“With nearly a decade of heritage in Europe, ESPN Classic has earned a place in the mi$$$ of sports fans and has evolved along the way,” said Ross Hair, managing director, ESPN Europe, Middle East & Africa. “The enhanced look and feel of the channel aims to better reflect its identity as a place where fans can find context, and a celebration of the culture, lege$$$ and heritage of sport.

Artists Andreas Preis, Jama Noor, Florian Nicolle, Aj Dimarucot, Federico Carra were commissioned to portray of group of 20 iconic athletes.

Yesterday (March 31), it was the turn of Eurosport to unveil its own new look.

Included in ESPN’s BBC package are archive footage from the FA Cup, international football, Formula 1 races, test cricket, international rugby, horse racing and BBC documentaries. This includes the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany and the best of the Cricket World Cup 1975, 1979 and 1983, featuring new interviews with the winning team captains.

A further 30 hours of UEFA programming has also been acquired.

ESPN Classic’s five European feeds will also benefit from new programming contracts that includes deals for FIBA International Basketball, which will feature particularly strongly on ESPN Classic’s broad European feed; classic Serie A football will continue to be a central property for ESPN Classic’s Italian channel, along with new in-house documentaries about AC Milan and La Via del Ring;