ESPN2
| ESPN2 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | October 1, 1993 |
| Owned by |
ESPN Inc. (The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Corporation (20%)) |
| Picture format |
720p (HDTV) Downgraded to letterboxed 480i for SDTV feed |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English and Spanish |
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | Bristol, Connecticut |
| Sister channel(s) |
ESPN ESPN3 ESPNews ESPNU ESPN Deportes ESPN Classic Longhorn Network SEC Network |
| Website | espn |
|
Availability
|
|
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 209 209-2 Alternate feed |
| Dish Network | 143 146 Alternate feed |
| Cable | |
| Available on most U.S. cable systems | Consult your local cable provider for channel availability |
| IPTV | |
| AT&T U-verse | 1606 606 (SD) |
| Verizon FiOS | 574 74 (SD) |
| Streaming media | |
| WatchESPN or ESPN app |
WatchESPN.com (U.S. cable subscribers only; requires login from pay television provider to access content) |
| Sling TV | Internet Protocol television |
| PlayStation Vue | Internet Protocol television |
ESPN2 is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hearst Corporation (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially formatted as a network for a younger generation of sports fans; by the late 1990s, this mandate was phased out as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage.
As of February 2015, ESPN2 is available to approximately 94,379,000 pay television households (81.1% of households with at least one television set) in the United States.
ESPN2 launched on October 1, 1993 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Its inaugural program was the premiere of SportsNight, a sports news program originally hosted by Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber – where Olbermann opened the show by jokingly welcoming viewers to "the end of our careers." Launching with an estimated carriage of about 10 million homes, ESPN2 aimed to be a more informal and youth-oriented channel than parent network ESPN, featuring a heavier emphasis on programming that would appeal to the demographic. The youthful image was also reflected in its overall presentation, which featured a graffiti-themed logo and on-air graphics.
Its initial lineup featured studio programs such as SportsNight (which host Keith Olbermann characterized as a "lighter" parallel to ESPN's SportsCenter that would still be "comprehensive, thorough and extremely skeptical"), Talk2 (a nightly talk show hosted by radio personality Jim Rome, which was billed as a sports parallel to CNN's Larry King Live), Max Out (an extreme sports anthology series carried over from ESPN) and SportsSmash, a five-minute rundown of sports news and scores which aired every half-hour. ESPN2 also featured several half-hour news programs focused on specific sports, such as NFL 2Night (football), NHL 2Night (hockey) and RPM 2Night (auto racing). Event coverage would focus on coverage of mainstream sports popular within the 18-34 age demographic, such as auto racing, college basketball and NHL hockey (which was branded as NHL Fire on Ice), while also covering atypical sports such as BMX and other extreme sports.
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Wikipedia