Sony ESPN was an Indian pay television sports channel which was 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 acce ...

between ESPN Inc. and Sony Pictures Networks India. The channel targeted the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

including India,

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was part of the Sony Pictures Sports Network group.

History

The channel launched on 8 April 2015 as Sony Kix, coinciding with the 2015 Indian Premier League. In October 2015, Multi Screen Media announced a partnership with

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 * ...

, which would include the rebranding of Sony Kix as Sony ESPN, and collaboration on digital properties (including partnerships with properties such as

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 ...

). The venture returned the ESPN brand to Indian television for the first time since

Star India Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, rea ...

rebranded its ESPN Star Sports channels as Star Sports in 2013. The relaunch occurred on 17 January 2016 in standard and high-definition, coinciding with the 2016 Australian Open. On 18 July 2017, the channel became part of Sony Pictures Sports Network following SPN's acquisition of TEN Sports. The channel was shut down on 30 March 2020.

References

External links

* {{Sony Pictures ESPN Sony Pictures Networks India Television channels and stations established in 2015 Television stations in Mumbai 2015 establishments in Maharashtra Television channels and stations disestablished in 2020 Defunct television channels in India