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ESPN, which stood for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American cable television network dedicated to sports 24 hours a day. It was founded by Scott Rasmussen and his father Bill Rasmussen, and launched on September 7 1979. Its signature telecast, SportsCenter, debuted with the network and aired its 25,000th episode on August 25 2002. ESPN broadcasts primarily out of its studios in Bristol, Connecticut and is available in over 77 million homes in the United States. The name of the company was shortened to "ESPN Inc." in February 1985.
History
ESPN started as an alternative to the short sports segments in standard television news broadcasts and the information found in "Sports" sections of newspapers. ESPN started out fairly small and often had to broadcast unorthodox sporting events, such as tractor pulls and the short-lived United States Football League (USFL), to attract viewers. In 1987, ESPN landed a contract to show National Football League games on Sunday evenings, an event which marked as a turning point in turning ESPN from a smaller cable TV network to a marketing empire and a cornerstone to the enthusiastic "sports culture" it largely helped to create.
In 2003, the Office of Foreign Assets Control reported that ESPN engaged in illegal trade with Cuba and had to settle with the United States government for US$40,000. [1] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/04/14/enemy.trading/index.html)
Starting with their 2004 lineup of sports games, Sega acquired the ESPN license to integrate their "TV show look & feel" into its franchise of video games covering America's major professional sports leagues and college basketball.
Networks
ESPN launched a sister network, ESPN2, on October 1, 1993, currently available in more than 65 million homes across America. ESPNEWS was launched on November 1, 1996, providing 24 hour-a-day highlights, scores, and news from the sports world. ESPN Classic was launched on October 9, 1997 as the Classic Sports Network (ESPN purchased it later), and airs documentaries and replays some of the greatest games in sports history. A Spanish language network, ESPN Deportes, was launched on January 7, 2004. ESPN also owns ESPNHD, which generally airs the normal ESPN programming in High definition. In September 2004, ESPN announced that ESPNU will be launched in March 2005 and will feature college athletics.
ESPN also launched the ESPN Radio network on January 1, 1992, ESPN The Magazine on March 11, 1998, and its ESPN Zone franchise of restaurant/entertainment complexes in Baltimore, Maryland on July 11, 1998.
The ESPY Awards are also administered by ESPN, which it initiated in 1993.
The entire family of ESPN networks and franchises is owned by ABC (the American Broadcasting Company), which is a part of The Walt Disney Company.
Shows
ESPN Original Entertainment programs
Personalities (past & present)
External links
See also
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