Ziggo brings all VriendenLoterij Eredivisie matches via ESPN to every Dutch living room, because football is something you watch together

Starting 1 July, millions of Dutch families, friends, and football fans can once again enjoy live Eredivisie football on television together, without needing an extra TV-package. Ziggo will include ESPN channels 2, 3, and 4 in all digital TV packages. This means all 306 VriendenLoterij Eredivisie matches can now be watched on Ziggo. With this move, the telecom company strengthens the social role of top football within Dutch society.

With this step, sports enthusiasts also get access to much more top-level Dutch football on ESPN, including the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, Eurojackpot Women’s Eredivisie, Eurojackpot KNVB Cup, and matches from Jong Oranje. In this way, Ziggo connects football fans and makes a unique, generation-old experience available in living rooms throughout the Netherlands.

New prices
With this significant expansion, the monthly price of the TV package will increase by €2.50. Existing Ziggo customers still within their 12- or 24-month contract term will receive ESPN for free during the entire remaining term of their contract.

Football fans who have ESPN Compleet (ESPN 1 to 4) will be switched to ESPN Premium and will receive a monthly discount of €8. From now on, they will pay €9.95 instead of €17.95 per month. In return, they will receive the same four ESPN channels in Ultra HD (UHD) picture quality via the Next/Next Mini media box. They can also stream all the channels in Full HD via the Ziggo GO App and the ESPN Watch App, so they never have to miss anything.

“Watching all the matches together again”
Frank Rutten and Marco de Ruiter, Managing Directors of Eredivisie Media & Marketing: “All live matches from all Dutch top competitions on ESPN, available to all Ziggo customers without an additional package! This is a huge step for supporters, clubs, and Dutch football as a whole. As true fans, we know better than anyone how special it is to watch your favorite club live together with friends and family. That is why we are extremely proud, together with Ziggo, to make Dutch competitions even more accessible to an even larger audience.”

Jan de Jong, director of the Eredivisie CV and member of the EMM Management Board, adds: “Already, about 10 million Dutch people spend about 11 hours per week on our football. We attend, watch, talk, drink, eat, breathe, and sleep football. It’s our national hobby, where the side issue is actually the main focus! And from now on, you won’t have to miss a thing, with all matches in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie and the Keuken Kampioen Divisie live. This way, our football becomes even more accessible: now everyone can really see everything, on ESPN at Ziggo.”

Robin Kroes, Director Consumer Market at VodafoneZiggo: "Football unites us all. The sport is part of our culture and belongs in every generation and every living room. That's why we are making the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie and all other Dutch football available to everyone. So we make sure the magic of Dutch football connects fans, families, and communities, wherever they’re watching."

Eredivisie football through the years
In the past thirty years, live Eredivisie football has never been so widely accessible on television. For fans to watch their favorite club’s matches live, they always had to switch to yet another premium pay channel. This started with Sport7 and Canal+, followed by Tele2/Versatel and, since 2008, Eredivisie Live - which later became FOXSports and eventually ESPN. Since 2001, the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie has been available with an extra TV package on pay channel ESPN. Ziggo is now putting an end to this by including all ESPN channels as standard in all its digital TV packages. Ziggo customers will never have to miss a match again.