BT takes the fight to BSkyB in sports rights market by buying ESPN's UK and Ireland TV business He said: "This is a business that's going to develop over the next few years. We plan to be in it for the long-term. So, over time, you can expect to see more developments. He added: "We are very serious about this business - we wouldn't be in it otherwise. So people certainly should take what we're doing seriously. Watson was confident BT would avoid the same fate as Setanta and ESPN, who were all too easily seen off by Sky. "We're a very different business to both of them," he said, pointing out BT had the infrastructure, existing customer base and funds to compete. We're a big business and we're a profitable business, so we can afford to invest in things that make sense and we can afford to stay the course to be successful. By buying ESPN's UK operation, BT acquired rights that may have cost it a lot more on the open market. Last year, it had to pay £738 million to show 46 live Premier League games annually for three years from the start of next season and £152 million to broadcast Premiership rugby for four years. ESPN finally succeeded in buying Premier League rights four years ago but, having lost out to BT in the most recent round of bidding, the Disney-owned business revealed last month it was "exploring an exit" from the UK TV sports market. Its operation will relocate from Hammersmith to BT Sport's headquarters in the converted media centre at the Olympic Park. All 97 ESPN UK and Ireland staff have been offered the chance to transfer to BT Sport but the presenting team face an anxious wait to learn which of them will be retained, with their contracts thought to be up in July. ESPN was on Monday considering ceasing transmission of ESPN Classic, which is not part of the BT deal, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. But it will continue to operate UK digital media businesses, including ESPN.co.uk, ESPNcricinfo, ESPNFC, ESPNscrum, ESPNF1 and the broadband streaming service ESPN Player. ESPN EMEA's managing director, Ross Hair, said: "We could not be more proud of the TV channels built and nurtured by our talented team over the past four years. The value of that hard work is reflected in this deal with BT and the continuation of ESPN on television screens across the UK and Ireland.