• Channel 70 (SD) • Channel 570 (HD) Channel 21 ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is a U.S.-based global owned by, a owned by (80%) and (20%). The company was founded in 1979 by along with his son and Ed Egan. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in. The network also operates offices in,,,, and. Currently serves as chairman of ESPN, a position he has held since March 5, 2018 due to the resignation of on December 18, 2017 (who succeeded George Bodenheimer as president in 2012). While ESPN is one of the most successful sports networks, there has been much, which includes accusations of biased coverage,, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts.

ESPN headquarters in As of January 2016, ESPN is available to approximately 91,405,000 paid television households (78.527% of households with at least one television set) in the United States. Nielsen has reported a much lower number in 2017, below 90,000,000 subscribers, losing more than 10,000 a day. Download film love story in harvard subtitle indonesia. In addition to the flagship channel and its seven related channels in the United States, ESPN broadcasts in more than 200 countries, operating regional channels in,, and the, and owning a 20% interest in (TSN) as well as its five sister networks in. In 2011, ESPN's history and rise was chronicled in Those Guys Have All the Fun, a nonfiction book written by James Andrew Miller and and published. Pmdg 777 liveries. Main article: conceived the concept of ESPN in late May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the 's.

One of the first steps in Bill and his son 's (who had also been let go by the Whalers) process was finding land to build the channel's broadcasting facilities. The Rasmussens first rented office space in. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop. Available land area was quickly found in Bristol, Connecticut (where the channel remains headquartered to this day), with funding to buy the property provided by, 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 to the viability of their sports channel concept. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement with in the spring of 1979; the company invested $1 million to be the 'exclusive beer advertised on the network.'

ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program,. 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. ESPN's next big break came when the channel acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the. It first aired the NCAA tournament in March 1980, creating the modern day television event known as '.'

Visit ESPN to get up-to-the-minute sports news coverage, scores, highlights and commentary for NFL, MLB, NBA, College Football, NCAA Basketball and more. ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is a U.S.-based global pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture owned by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%).

The channel's tournament coverage also launched the broadcasting career of, who at the time he joined ESPN, had just been fired as head coach of the. In April of that year, ESPN created another made-for-TV spectacle, when it began televising the. It provided complete coverage of the event that allowed rookie players from the college ranks to begin their professional careers in front of a national television audience in ways they were not able to previously. The next major stepping stone for ESPN came over the course of a couple of months in 1984.

During this time period, the (ABC) purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens and Getty Oil. Under Getty ownership, the channel was unable to compete for the television rights to major sports events contracts as its majority corporate parent would not provide the funding, leading ESPN to lose out for broadcast deals with the (to ) and (to ). For years, the, and refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games. However, with the backing of ABC, ESPN's ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, and gave it credibility within the sports broadcasting industry. Later in 1984, the ruled that the could no longer monopolize the rights to negotiate the contracts for college football games, allowing each individual school to negotiate broadcast deals of their choice. ESPN took full advantage and began to broadcast a large number of NCAA football games, creating an opportunity for fans to be able to view multiple games each weekend (instead of just one), the same deal that the NCAA had previously negotiated with TBS.