ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

sports television channel owned by

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and financial reporting purposes, the company is the main entity w ...

, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between the Disney Media Networks division of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

(which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). The channel is primarily dedicated to coverage of

college athletics College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

, and is also used as an additional outlet for general ESPN programming. ESPNU is based alongside its sister networks at ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. As of November 2021, ESPNU reaches approximately 51 million television households in the United States – a drop of 24% from nearly a decade ago.

History

The network was launched on March 4, 2005, with its first broadcast originating from the site of Gallagher-Iba Arena on the

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The network's first live event was a semifinal game of the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament between Southeast Missouri State University and Eastern Kentucky University. The network was launched as a response to rival College Sports Television (CSTV) (now

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known ...

). ESPN was also being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department on allegations of "warehousing" collegiate sporting events from certain conferences, or signing a deal with a conference for all their games, but only televising a small number and not allowing the conference to make other arrangements for television broadcasts. ESPN and XOS Technologies entered into a partnership for college athletics websites to compete directly with CSTV's growing internet presence. On August 28, 2006, ESPNU launched a new '' SportsCenter'' spin-off focusing entirely on college sports. The program, '' SportsCenterU'', was originally scheduled to be broadcast from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, however ESPN instead chose to originate the show from Charlotte. Mike Hall was the program's lead anchor until August 2007, when he left for the new

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs ...

. He was replaced by Mike Gleason and Lowell Galindo. The two are joined on-set by

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

s that vary depending on the sports season. The same day as ''SportsCenterU''s debut, ESPNU launched the website ESPNU.com. The site included live streaming of college sports events, a multi-media player dedicated to college sports, podcasts and ESPN Motion clips of studio programming from the ESPNU television network. ESPNU expanded its live programming to

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

by broadcasting its first-ever water polo match between the women's teams of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineerin ...

on March 28, 2009, from DeNunzio Pool in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

. In addition to its collegiate sports coverage, ESPNU has simulcast ESPN Radio's midday program over its airwaves since 2008, with the exception of a brief period between 2011 and 2012. The program airing for the majority of that time was '' The Herd with Colin Cowherd'', which has since moved to Fox Sports Radio and is simulcast on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

. Following Cowherd's departure and several weeks of guest hosts taking over the timeslot, ''

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz ''The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz'' is a syndicated sports talk show hosted by Dan Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner broadcast out of Miami. It was also carried on many ESPN Radio Network affiliates nationwide and simulcast nationally on v ...

'' became the permanent replacement for ''The Herd''. On April 26, 2017, as part of a larger series of company-wide cuts, it was announced that ESPNU's studio operations would be re-located from Charlotte to ESPN's main headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. Less than 10 employees were laid off as part of the cuts. SEC Network and ESPN Events continue to operate out of Charlotte. On August 8, 2017, ESPNU aired a marathon of lesser-known and unconventional non-college sports as " ESPN 8: The Ocho"—an homage to a fictitious eighth ESPN channel portrayed in the film '' DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story'', which aired events that were "almost a sport". The stunt was reprised the following year on ESPN2. On August 31, 2017, as part of an extension of ESPN's agreements with the service, Sirius XM's channel College Sports Nation was relaunched as

ESPNU Radio ESPNU Radio is a channel on Sirius XM Radio, and is mainly the result of a merging of Sirius Sports Central and XM Sports Nation, and a couple programming changes with sister channel Mad Dog Radio. Sirius XM College Sports Nation has a 24-hour a ...

. The channel carries audio simulcasts of ESPN college sports studio programming, as well as other programs and event coverage.

Carriage

On May 19, 2009, ESPN announced it had reached a carriage agreement with Comcast, which allows the cable provider to carry ESPNU on a widely distributed digital cable tier, instead of a less popular sports tier. ESPNU was added to most Comcast systems in time for the start of the 2009–10

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

season. This ended several years of negotiations and somewhat of a feud between Comcast and ESPN over carriage of ESPNU. On that same date, ESPNU reached a new carriage agreement with

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

, which moved the channel from the satellite provider's add-on "Sports Pack" to its basic "Choice" package on July 1, 2009, swapping channels and packages with ESPN Classic.

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

added ESPNU to its systems on March 23, 2010. ESPNU is carried on PlayStation Vue and

Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor a ...

. Outside the United States, ESPNU became available in Mexico in 2017.

Dish Network lawsuit

On August 4, 2009 Dish Network sued ESPN for $1 million in a federal lawsuit, alleging that ESPN breached its contract by not extending the same carriage terms that the programmer provided to Comcast and DirecTV for ESPNU and ESPN Classic. The lawsuit claims ESPN violated the " Most Favored Nations" clause. The next day, ESPN announced it would fight the lawsuit and said in a press release: "We have repeatedly advised Dish that we are in full compliance with our agreement and have offered them a distribution opportunity with respect to ESPNU and ESPN Classic consistent with the rest of the industry. We will not renegotiate settled contracts and will vigorously defend this legal action, the apparent sole purpose of which is to get a better deal." Dish Network moved the channel from its "Classic Gold 250" package to its "Classic Bronze 100" package on September 30, 2009. However, it claimed that the move had nothing to do with the lawsuit.

Coverage rights

ESPNU has rights to sporting events from the following collegiate athletic conferences: * American Athletic Conference * Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) *

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

(MAC) * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) * Missouri Valley Conference * Missouri Valley Football Conference * Pac-12 Conference *

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) * Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) * Sun Belt Conference *

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

(WAC) * West Coast Conference (WCC)

List of programs broadcast by ESPNU

Current

Studio

*''ESPNU Bracketology'' (2006–present) *''ESPNU Coaches Spotlight'' (2006–present) *''Give 'N Go'' (2007–present) *''Inside the Big East'' (2006–present) *''ESPNU Inside the Polls'' (2005–present) *''ESPNU Recruiting Insider'' (2006–present) *'' SportsCenterU'' (2006–present) *'' College Football Live''

Live sports programs

*''ESPNU College Baseball'' (2005–present) Regular Season & select NCAA Tournament games LIVE *''

ESPNU College Basketball ''ESPNU College Basketball'' is a broadcast of NCAA Division I college basketball on ESPNU. Current play-by-play announcers *Jay Alter * Dave Armstrong *Jordan Bernfield *Allen Bestwick *Brock Bowling *Mike Couzens *Mike Crispino *Ted Emric ...

'' (2005–present) *'' ESPNU College Football'' (2005–present) *''ESPNU College Hockey'' (2005–present) Coverage of the Men's DI NCAA tournament regionals and the Women's National Collegiate Frozen Four (since 2021); select regular season games from the Big Ten (since 2013) and Hockey East (beginning 2022) *''ESPNU College Lacrosse'' (2005–present) Includes D1 Men's Tournament until Semis when it moves to ESPN 2. *''ESPNU College Soccer'' (2005–present) NCAA D1 Men's Semifinals Finals & Women's Semifinals & Finals as well as select men's & women's regular season games *''ESPNU College Softball'' (2005–present) Regular Season & select NCAA Tournament games LIVE *''ESPNU College Volleyball'' (2005–present) Women's games as well as Beach Volleyball Tournament Day 1 *'' ESPN Megacast'' (2006–2007 as ''ESPN Full Circle'', 2015–present) *'' High School Showcase'' (2005–present) *'' NHL on ESPN'' (2022–present) - Playoff broadcasts *'' NBA on ESPN'' (2015–2017?) - Playoff broadcasts *''

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA D ...

'' (2015–present) Mainly playoff games or G League showcase (since no fans are allowed to watch live at the stadium) *'' International Champions Cup'' (2018–present) When there is more than one game on or an early morning game in United States Local Time *'' United Soccer League'' (2018–present) a secondary network for the game of the week when ESPN2 or ESPNews has a live event at the games start *'' FIL World Lacrosse Championships'' (2018–present) *'' ESPN Radio TV Broadcasts'' Only when ESPNews has a planned live sports "game" event cuts off there coverage of the broadcast will it be on ESPNU. *''

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

'' (2018–present) Live Telecast of Sky Sports F1 Grand Prix Practice 2 Coverage Only as ESPN 2 airs Practice 1 & Qualifying Sessions with ESPNews & Major Races On ESPN/ABC *'' Pan American Games'' (2011, 2015 & 2019) English coverage of the games when ESPN 2 or ESPN has other sports coverage. Just a loop around of the main events/matches going on at that moment, however every match is in Spanish only on ESPN 3 *'' Summer of Next'' (2013–present) Showcases the best High School Athletes in the semi-finals & championship matches of some of the best tournaments in High School Lacrosse, Basketball, Softball, & Baseball. It ends with the best High School Football teams, players & games in the first weekend of the High School Football season with a three day event on the ESPN Networks. *'' The Basketball Tournament'' Quarterfinal matches that ESPN or ESPN 2 can not show due to other sports. *'' Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge'' Live annual competition with more than 2,800 registered students from 93 countries and 596 universities and colleges.

Original series

*''Faces of Sports'' (2005–present) *''Honor Roll'' (2005–present) *''The Season: Ole Miss Football'' (2018–present)

Former

*'' Summer House'' (2006–2007) *''The U'' (2005–2006) *''UNITE'' (2012–2013)

References

External links

ESPNU official website

ESPNU program listings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espnu Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina ESPN media outlets Disney acquisitions The Walt Disney Company subsidiaries Television channels and stations established in 2005 English-language television stations in the United States ESPN College Basketball College sports television networks