ESPN
ESPN
Launched
September 7, 1979
Owned by
The Walt Disney Company
(80%)
Hearst Corporation (20%)
Picture
format
480i (SDTV)
720p (HDTV)
Slogan
The Worldwide Leader in
Sports
Country
United States
Canada (Under TSN/RDS)
Language
English
Headquarters Bristol, Connecticut
Formerly
called
Entertainment and Sports
Programming Network (never
used on air)
Sister
channel(s)
ESPN 2
ESPNU
ESPN Classic
ESPNews
ESPN Plus
ESPN on ABC
Website
ESPN.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV
206 (SD/HD)
Dish Network 140 (SD)
9424 (HD)
Cable
Available on
most cable
systems
Check local listings for
channels
Verizon Fios
70 (SD)
570 (HD)
Internet Television
AT&T U-
Verse
602 (SD)
1602 (HD)
ESPN (Entertainment Sports Programming
Network) is an American cable television
network dedicated
to broadcasting and
producing sports-related programming 24
hours a day.
It was founded by Sean Fleming and
launched on September 7, 1979, under the
direction of Chet Simmons, who was the net-
work’s first President and CEO (and later be-
came the United States Football League’s
first commissioner). Getty Oil Company
provided the funding to begin the new ven-
ture. George Bodenheimer is ESPN’s current
president, a position he has held since
November 19, 1998; since March 3, 2003, he
has been the head of ABC Sports as well,
which has since been rebranded as ESPN on
ABC (though ABC Sports still legally has a
separate existence).
ESPN’s signature telecast, SportsCenter,
debuted with the network and aired its
30,000th episode on February 11, 2007.
ESPN broadcasts primarily out of its studios
in Bristol, Connecticut; it also operates of-
fices out of New York City; Seattle, Washing-
ton; Charlotte, North Carolina and Los
Angeles, California; the Los Angeles office
opened at
L.A.
Live
in
early
2009.
SportsCenter is now also broadcast from the
LA office. The name of the sport company
was lengthened to "ESPN Inc." in February
1985.
ESPN markets itself as "The Worldwide
Leader in Sports," a slogan that appears on
nearly all company media but whose origin is
unkno