ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to t ...

majority-owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and

financial reporting Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to un ...

purposes, the company is the main entity within the ESPN and Sports Content segment of Disney. Headed by James Pitaro, it owns and operates local and global cable and

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

variants of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

, ESPN.com and other related ventures. Commonly and colloquially marketed as the "Worldwide Leader in Sports", programming on its television networks include broadcasts of live or tape-delayed sporting events and sports-related programming including talk shows and original documentary series and films.

History

ESPN Inc. was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen, initially as an attempt to broadcast

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

sports over an "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network" (

) cable channel, and soon became a nationwide cable sports network. Shortly after being terminated as the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

's New England Whalers communications director in 1978, Rasmussen conceived of a plan to produce Connecticut sports events for Connecticut cable systems. With his son, Scott, they had moved beyond that, considering a national sports channel doable.

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

had an underused satellite and was pushing for customers. Finding it cheaper by the hour to rent a satellite transponder full-time, instead of 5 hours a day, the Rasmussens changed their plans from creating a Connecticut sports channel to creating a national cable network. On February 7, 1979, Bill Rasmussen got the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

to agree, in principle, to grant

broadcast rights for NCAA sports. The next day at the Texas Cable Show exposition, he was able to get cable companies on board. An advertising contract with

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

was in talks at that time, and

Getty Oil Getty Oil was an American oil marketing company with its origins as part of the large integrated oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. History J. Paul Getty incorporated Getty Oil in 1942. He had previously worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma ...

came on board as its major source of capital. In 1979, Rasmussen purchased the first acre of land for ESPN's headquarters in

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

. With a reasonable payment plan in July 1979, Rasmussen leased RCA's Satcom 1 transponder using his credit card. Anheuser-Busch became a major sponsor, signing a $1.4 million ad contract, a record at the time. Getty Oil invested $10 million into ESPN getting a controlling stake in 1979. On September 7, 1979, the ESPN cable channel went on the air, with 24 hours of programming on the weekends and limited hours during the week. 625 cable system affiliates were signed up at launch and they had one million household subscribed total (out of 20 million households with cable). The channel's first game featured the Milwaukee Schlitz and the Kentucky Bourbons in the deciding game of the championship series of the American Professional Slo-Pitch League. In 1980, the company was named in a Texas divorce filing. Groundbreaking for its headquarters took place one year earlier. Full-time broadcasting began in September 1980. Additional programming at the time included weekly boxing matches. NBC Sports President Chet Simmons was hired to help run the cable channel. Simmons and Rasmussen were at odds with Getty Oil executives siding with Simmons. At the end of 1980, Rasmussen was removed as company president by Getty Oil executive for ESPN, Stuart Evey, relegating him to a ceremonial role. Rasmussen left in 1981 and sold his remaining stock in 1984. Investing another $15 million into the company and no profits expected any time soon, Getty used management consultant McKinsey & Co. to assess ESPN's future. McKinsey's lead consultant was Roger Werner, who figured with another $120 million and five years ESPN would become a profit maker. Werner soon was hired by ESPN as vice-president of finance, administration, and planning and developed a new business plan. Werner developed a new revenue source beyond advertising by initiating revolutionary affiliate fees paid by the cable operators by number of subscribers starting at 6 cents. Between CBS Cable folding in October 1982 and the new CEO, Bill Grimes, they convinced most of the reluctant cable providers to pay. By 1985, the fee was 10 cents.

was the largest cable channel by the end of 1983 with 28.5 million households. Also in 1983, the company began distributing programming outside the United States.

and the

all got involved with the new cable channel. In 1984, the U.S. ABC television network purchased a controlling stake in the company. ABC later merged with Capital Cities Communications, and the combined company was purchased by

in 1995.

Multichannel

ESPN started out expanding into other nations and additional channels. The

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Operating regions Latin America Spanish-speaking countries * ...

unit was formed in 1988 to start channels in other nations beginning with ESPN Latin America in 1989. In 1992, ESPN Asia was launched. ESPN partnered with

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

and Canal+ for a made over

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

to enter Europe. RJR Nabisco sold its 20% stake in ESPN to the Hearst Corporation. Werner resigned as CEO and president in October 1990 for another sports CEO job.

Steve Bornstein Steve Bornstein (born April 20, 1952) is the chairman of the Media Networks division of the gaming company Activision Blizzard. He previously held high-ranking roles at NFL Network, ESPN, and ABC. While at ESPN, he organized showing ''SportsCen ...

replaced him in the CEO post moving up from the second position of executive vice-president in charge of programming and production. With

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

, the company started the

Network in 1991 with programming 16 hours per week. Ohlmeyer Communications' sports programming division was purchased in March 1993. ESPN launched

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

on October 1, 1993 at 7:30 PM. The channel at the time was targeting those age 18-34. In 1994, ESPN acquired Creative Sports and from Dow Jones an 80% stake in SportsTicker. In 1997, ESPN acquired the Classic Sports Network. In 2006, ESPN acquired the North American Sports Network (NASN). It was re-branded as ESPN America on February 1, 2009. In February 2016, ESPN and Tencent reached an agreement of collaboration. ESPN's content would be localized and exclusively distributed and promoted by Tencent's digital platforms in China, including college basketball games, the X Games and an ESPN section on QQ.com. In August 2016, Disney purchased a 1/3 stake in BAMTech for $1 billion from

MLB Advanced Media MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) is a limited partnership of the club owners of Major League Baseball (MLB) based in New York City and is the Internet and interactive branch of the league. Robert Bowman, former president and CEO of MLBAM, indicated in ...

with the option to purchase a majority share, which it later exercised, and now owns 85%. Disney purchased the stake to first develop an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service, later named

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Executives

* James Pitaro – Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content ** Chara-Lynn Aguiar – Senior Vice President, Strategy & Office of the Chairman ** Sonia Coleman – Senior Vice President, Human Resources ** Eleanor "Nell" DeVane – Chief Counsel ** Stephanie Druley – Executive Vice President, Event and Studio Production *** Mike Shiffman – Senior Vice President, Production ** Thomas Hennessy – Senior Vice President, Finance ** Rob King – Executive Editor-In-Chief, Special Projects ** Chris LaPlaca – Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications ** Burke Magnus – President, Programming and Original Content *** Brian Lockhart – Senior Vice President,

Original Content and ESPN Films *** Freddy Rolón – Senior Vice President, Programming and Scheduling ** Tina Thornton – Head of Content Ops and Creative Surround ** Mark L. Walker – Head of Sports Business Development & Innovation *** Raina Kelley – Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, ''

Andscape ''Andscape'', formerly ''The Undefeated'', is a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN. Officially launched May 17, 2016, the site describes itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and ...

'' **

Norby Williamson Norby Williamson (born 1963) is an American executive and television producer. He is the Executive Senior Vice President of Studio and Event Production for ESPN. Since October 2005, Williamson has overseen all studio shows as well as all live spor ...

– Executive Vice President, Event and Studio Production & Executive Editor *** Nate Ravitz – Senior Vice President, Digital Content *** Maria Soares – Senior Vice President, Production and Content Strategy

Assets

Television

ACC Network ACC Network (ACCN) is an American multinational subscription-television channel owned and operated by ESPN Inc. Dedicated to coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was announced in July 2016 and launched on August 22, 2019. The channel ...

(2019–present) *

(1979–present) *

(1989–present) *

(1993–present) *

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which ...

(1996–present) * ESPN Classic (1997–2021) * ESPN PPV (1999–present) * ESPN Films (2001–present) * ESPN Deportes (2004–present) *

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the He ...

(2005–present) * ESPN Goal Line & Bases Loaded (2010–2020) * ESPN Events, also called ESPN Regional Television *

Longhorn Network Longhorn Network (LHN) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between The University of Texas at Austin, ESPN and Learfield (formerly IMG College), and is operated by ESPN (itself owned jointly by The Walt Disney Compa ...

(2011–present, joint venture with The University of Texas at Austin and

IMG College LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...

) *

SEC Network The SEC Network is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which hold ...

(2014–present)

Radio

(1992–present) * ESPN Deportes Radio (2005–2019) * ESPN Xtra (2008–present) *LRI710 ESPN 107.9 (2010–Present) * KRDC (since 2021)

Internet

* ESPN.com (1993–present), flagship site *

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communication ...

(2005–present), known as ''ESPN360.com'' from 2005–2010 * ESPN Motion (2003–present), broadband video * WatchESPN (2011–2019), known as ''ESPN Networks'' from 2010–2011 *

(2018–present), subscription streaming service available in the US * Star+ (2021–present) subscription streaming service available in Latin America. *ESPN Player, subscription streaming service available in select international markets *

(formerly The Undefeated), describes itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture. * espnW.com, focusing on women *ESPN.mobi, mobile site * ESPN Deportes.com, Spanish language *

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as ...

, soccer, formerly ''ESPN Soccernet'' *ESPNF1.com, Formula 1 *

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

*ESPNScrum.com,

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

*EXPN.com, extreme sports *ESPNBoston.com, operates in conjunction with Entercom-owned WEEI AM *ESPNChicago.com, the site for Good Karma Brands-owned (former ESPN O&O)

WMVP WMVP (1000 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, carrying a Sports radio, sports format. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station serves the Chicago metropolitan area, Chicag ...

*ESPNCleveland.com, joint site for Good Karma Brands-owned WKNR and WWGK *ESPNDallas.com *ESPNLosAngeles.com *ESPNNewYork.com, joint site for

Emmis Communications Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which ...

-owned WEPN-FM and Good Karma Brands-owned (former ESPN O&O)

WEPN (AM) WEPN (1050 kHz) is an all-sports AM radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned-and-operated by Good Karma Brands and its transmitter site is located in North Bergen, New Jersey. The 1050 AM facility in New York si ...

*ESPNWisconsin.com, joint site for Good Karma Brands-owned WAUK/Waukesha-Milwaukee and WTLX/Monona-Madison

Canada

Under the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

's rules regarding foreign broadcasters, ESPN has been prohibited from acquiring majority ownership of any channel operating in Canada. Instead, ESPN partnered with several Canadian firms to form a privately held consortium named NetStar Communications in 1995, which then acquired the sports networks

TSN TSN may refer to: Science and technology * Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function * Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System * The Science Netwo ...

and RDS. These Canadian partners then sold their shares in 2001 to CTV Inc. (now

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

). ESPN continues to own 20 percent of what is now

CTV Specialty Television This is a list of assets currently owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. Note that this list does not include BCE's 28% interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which itself owns a majority interest in the digital specialty chann ...

while Bell Media owns the remaining 80 percent. The sports channels owned by the CTV Specialty Television subsidiary: *

– five feeds * RDS * RDS2 * RDS Info * ESPN Classic Through CTV Specialty Television, ESPN also has an indirect interest in several channels operated in partnership with

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...

, but ESPN is not believed to be directly involved with these operations.

United Kingdom

In 2006, ESPN acquired the North American Sports Network (NASN), later re-branded as ESPN America in 2008. ESPN launched a domestic channel in the United Kingdom after acquiring a portion of the local rights package to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

alongside

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

, replacing the now-collapsed

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

. The contract lasted from the 2009–10 season to the 2012–13 season. However, by 2012, the network had begun to lose many of its key sports rights, including the Premier League, to

BT Group BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...

. On January 25, 2013, ESPN reached a deal to sell its television business in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including ESPN America's programming rights, to

. The ESPN channel in the United Kingdom was placed under the control of

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Broad ...

, while ESPN Classic and ESPN America shut down. ESPN continues to operate digital properties targeting the United Kingdom, including its ESPN.co.uk,

, and ESPNscrum websites. Two years later, ESPN reached a long-term deal with BT Sport for the British rights to ESPN original programming and international event rights.

Other

* ESPY Awards (1993–present) *

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...

(1998–2019) *

The ESPN Sports Poll The ESPN (Chilton) Sports Poll was created by the Chilton Company in 1993 and launched on January 4, 1994. The Sports Poll was the first ongoing research service to measure sports fan interests, activities and preferences in the United States. In ...

(1994–present) * ESPN Broadband (2002–present) * ESPN Books (2004–present) * ESPNU.com (2005–present) * ESPN Deportes La Revista (2005–present) * ESPN Integration (2006–present) * ESPN Online Games (2006–present) * ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex (2010–present) *

College football bowl games The following is a list of current, defunct, and proposed college football bowl games. Three bowl games are currently part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving four of the top-ranked teams in ...

owned by ESPN Events *

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

(1995–present) *ESPN The Games (1999–2002), joint venture with Konami and

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it ...

*ESPN Videogames (2003–2005), joint venture with Sega

References

{{Authority control Bristol, Connecticut Mass media companies established in 1979 Hearst Communications assets Joint ventures Companies based in Hartford County, Connecticut Disney Media Networks Cable network groups in the United States 1979 establishments in Connecticut ms:ESPN