ESPN: Difference between revisions

| sister_channels = {{collapsible list|

* [[ESPN3ESPNU]]

ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in [[Bristol, Connecticut]]. The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios in [[Miami]], [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], [[New York City]], [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]], [[Seattle]], [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Los Angeles]]. [[James Pitaro]] has been chairman since March 5, 2018, following the resignation of [[John Skipper]] on December 18, 2017.<ref>{{cite news |title=John Skipper is promoted to ESPN president |url=https://articleswww.latimes.com/2011business/la-xpm-2011-nov/-23/business/-fi-ct-espn-20111123-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |last=James |first=Meg |date=November 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127191740/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/23/business/fi-ct-espn-20111123 |archive-date=January 27, 2012 |access-date=January 24, 2012 |url-status=deadlive}}</ref>

{{As of|20212023|1112}}, ESPN reachedis available to approximately 76 70&nbsp;million pay television households in the United States—aStates—down dropfrom ofits 24%2011 frompeak nearlyof a100&nbsp;million decade priorhouseholds.<ref>{{Citecite web |url=https://deadlinewrestlenomics.com/2021/11/espnu-disneys-carriagecable-millionnetwork-households-fiscaluniverse-20211990-streaming2023-1234880512nielsen-data/ |title=ESPN Pay-TV Carriage Fell Another 10% to End Fiscal 2021 at 76 Million U.S. Householdscable |date=Novembernetwork 24,households 2021 |access-date=November 25(universe), 20211990 |archive-date=February 10,– 2023 |archive-urlwebsite=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210014016/https://deadlinewrestlenomics.com/2021/11/espn-disney-carriage-million-households-fiscal-2021-streaming-1234880512/ |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2023|06}}, the channel's reach had been reduced to 72.5 million homes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://internetcompost.substack.com/p/how-many-homes-the-sports-networks |title=How many homes the sports networks are available in |author=Robert Seidman |website=Internet Compost |date=JuneMay 414, 2023 2024|access-date=JuneJuly 1428, 2023 |archive-date=June 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620220206/https://internetcompost.substack.com/p/how-many-homes-the-sports-networks |url-status=live 2019}}</ref> In addition to the flagship channel and its seven related channels in the United States, ESPN broadcasts in more than 200 countries.<ref name="ESPN Inc">[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9002482/ESPN "ESPN Inc"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415155652/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9002482/ESPN |date=April 15, 2008 }}. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref> It operates regional channels in Africa, Australia, Latin America, and the Netherlands. In Canada, it owns a 20% interest in [[The Sports Network]] (TSN) and its five sister networks. Despite the network's success, [[criticism of ESPN]] includes accusations of biased coverage,<ref>[https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299 "Geography lesson: Breaking down the bias in ESPN's coverage"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620141654/https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299|date=June 20, 2019}}. ESPN.com, August 15, 2008.</ref> [[conflict of interest]], and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

[[Bill Rasmussen]] came up with the concept of ESPN in May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the [[World Hockey Association]]'s [[Hartford Whalers|New England Whalers]]. Rasmussen and his ESPN co-founder Ed Eagan, joined by Rasmussen's son [[Scott Rasmussen|Scott]] (who had also been let go by the Whalers), first rented office space in [[Plainville, Connecticut]]. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because of a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop [[satellite dish]]es. Available land to build their own facility on was quickly found in [[Bristol, Connecticut]] (where the channel remains headquartered to this day), with funding to buy the property provided by [[Getty Oil]], which purchased 85% of the company from Bill Rasmussen on February 22, 1979, in an attempt to diversify the company's holdings. This helped the credibility of the fledgling company; however, there were still many doubters about the viability of their sports channel concept. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement with [[Anheuser-Busch]] in the spring of 1979; the company invested $1 million to be the "exclusive beer advertised on the network.".<ref name="A">{{cite news|last=Kleinfield|first=N.R.|title=ABC TOTo ACQUIREAcquire ESPN ASAs TEXACOTexaco SELLSSells ITSIts 72%|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/business/abc-to-acquire-espn-as-texaco-sells-its-72.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 1, 1984|access-date=August 30, 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=March 9, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309204147/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/business/abc-to-acquire-espn-as-texaco-sells-its-72.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Potts|first=Mark|title=ABC to Buy Texaco's ESPN Cable Channel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1984/05/01/abc-to-buy-texacos-espn-cable-channel/6e5a4aeb-8885-4b64-88dd-4a3924e5cd6e/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=May 1, 1984|access-date=August 30, 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=September 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215449/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1984/05/01/abc-to-buy-texacos-espn-cable-channel/6e5a4aeb-8885-4b64-88dd-4a3924e5cd6e/}}</ref>

ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program, ''[[SportsCenter]]''. Taped in front of a small live audience inside the Bristol studios, it was broadcast to 1.4 million cable subscribers throughout the United States.<ref>{{cite nameweb|url="A"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-19-sp-1301-story.html|title=Dishing It Out : ESPN, the Little Network That Could, Finds There's 24-Hour Sports Audience|date=April 19, 1988 |author=Larry Stewart|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

ESPN's next big step forward came when the channel acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the [[NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament]]. It first aired its games in March 1980, helping bring attention to what is today known as "[[NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|March Madness]].". The channel's tournament coverage also launched the broadcasting career of [[Dick Vitale]], who at the time he joined ESPN had just been fired as head coach of the [[Detroit Pistons]].

'''ESPN Deportes''' ({{IPA-|es|i.es.piˈen deˈpoɾtes}}, "ESPN Sports") is a subscription television network that was originally launched in July 2001 to provide Spanish simulcasts of certain Major League Baseball telecasts from ESPN. It became a 24-hour sports channel in January 2004.

ESPN launched its [[High-definition television|high definition]] [[simulcast]] feed, originally branded as '''ESPNHD''', on March 30, 2003, with a broadcast of the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] and the [[Los Angeles Angels]] (then the Anaheim Angels).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2016/03/on-this-day-in-espn-history-espn-hd-debuts/|title=On This Day in ESPN History: ESPN HD debuts – ESPN Front Row|date=March 30, 2016|access-date=November 8, 2018|archive-date=November 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109070802/https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2016/03/on-this-day-in-espn-history-espn-hd-debuts/|url-status=live}}</ref> All studio shows based in Bristol and at L. A. Live, along with most live event telecasts on ESPN, are broadcast in high definition. ESPN is one of the few television networks with an all-digital infrastructure. Archived non-HD programming is presented in [[4:3]] [[Standard-definition television|standard definition]] with [[Pillarbox#Stylized pillarboxing on television|stylized pillarboxing]]. ''Pardon the Interruption'' and ''Around the Horn'' began airing in HD on September 27, 2010, with the relocation of the production of both shows into the facility housing the [[Washington, D.C.]], bureau for [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]].<ref>[http://www.tvpredictions.com/newhd092010.htm ESPN Yakkers Go HD Next Week] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922210429/http://www.tvpredictions.com/newhd092010.htm |date=September 22, 2010 }} TVPredictions.com September 20, 2010.</ref>

ESPN has been criticized for focusing too much on men's college and professional sports (particularly the NBA and NFL), and very little on women's sports or extreme sports.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ESPN effect: exploring the worldwide leader in sports|last=Lavelle|first=Katherine L|others=McGuire, John, 1961–, Armfield, Greg G.; Earnheardt, Adam C., 1970–|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4331-2600-0|location=New York|chapter=Chapter 10 The ESPN Effect Representation of Women in 30 for 30 Films|oclc=917889678}}</ref> [[Baseball]], [[ice hockey]], and [[association football|soccer]] fans have also criticized ESPN for not giving their respective sports more coverage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/ct-espn-hockey-coverage-stanley-cup-playoffs-20170427-story.html|title=ESPN just gutted its hockey coverage in the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs|first=Dan|last=Steinberg|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=April 17, 2020|archive-date=December 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203055736/https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/ct-espn-hockey-coverage-stanley-cup-playoffs-20170427-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/04/10/espn-another-smack-face-soccer-fans/|title=ESPN+ is another smack in the face for soccer fans – World Soccer Talk|date=April 10, 2018|access-date=June 28, 2018|archive-date=June 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628072706/http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/04/10/espn-another-smack-face-soccer-fans/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other criticism has focused on ethnicity in ESPN's varying mediated forms, as well as carriage fees and issues regarding the exportation of ESPN content.<ref name="afterword">{{cite book |last=Earnheardt |first=Adam C. |editor-last1=McGuire |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Armfield |editor-first2=Greg |editor-last3=Earnheardt |editor-first3=Adam C. |title=The ESPN Effect: Exploring the Worldwide Leader in Sports |publisher=Peter Lang |date=July 17, 2015 |pages=265–270 |chapter=Chapter 20 Afterword: Challenging the Worldwide Leader in Sports | location = New York | isbn=978-1-4331-2600-0}}</ref> Some critics argue that ESPN's success is their ability to provide other enterprise and investigative sports news while competing with other hard sports-news-producing outlets such as [[Yahoo! Sports]] and [[Fox Sports]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/09/why-espn-is-the-worlds-most-valuable-media-property-and-worth-40-billion/#62fb79856527|title=Why ESPN Is Worth $40 Billion As The World's Most Valuable Media Property|last=Badenhausen|first=Kurt|date=November 9, 2012|website=Forbes|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=February 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224115004/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/09/why-espn-is-the-worlds-most-valuable-media-property-and-worth-40-billion/#62fb79856527|url-status=live}}</ref> Some scholars have challenged ESPN's journalistic integrity, calling for an expanded standard of professionalism to prevent biased coverage and conflicts of interest.<ref name="ethics">{{cite journal |last1=Oates |first1=T. P. |last2=Pauly |first2=J. |date=2007 |title=Sports journalism as moral and ethical discourse |journal=Journal of Mass Media Ethics |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=332–347 |doi=10.1080/08900520701583628 |s2cid=143559022 |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/172 |access-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-date=January 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130190519/https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/172/ |url-status=live |issn=0890-0523}}</ref>