ESPN Now
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| Joint venture | |
| Industry | Sports broadcasting |
| Founded | September 7, 1979 |
| Founder | Bill Rasmussen |
| Headquarters | Bristol, Connecticut, United States |
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Key people
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| Parent |
The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Communications (20%) |
| Website | espn |
ESPN Inc. is an American sports media conglomerate based in Bristol, Connecticut. Jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company (which owns a 80% majority share), and Hearst Communications (which owns a 20% minority share), it owns various sports broadcasting operations, including cable channels (such as the titular ESPN), a sports radio network, an accompanying website, and other assets.
ESPN markets itself as the "Worldwide Leader in Sports". Most programming on ESPN networks consist of live or tape-delayed sporting events, sports news programming, sports talk shows, and original series and documentaries.
In August 2016, Disney purchased a 1/3 stake in BAMTech for $1 billion from MLB Advanced Media with the option to purchase a majority share, which it later excised now owning 75% . Disney purchased the stake to first develop a ESPN subscription streaming service. The service would not include any current ESPN channel or its content, but tap BAMTech licensed rights and ESPN college rights.
Under the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's rules regarding foreign broadcasters, ESPN has been prohibited from acquiring majority ownership of any channel operating in Canada. Instead, ESPN partnered with several Canadian firms to form a privately held consortium named NetStar Communications in 1995, which then acquired the sports networks TSN and RDS. These Canadian partners then sold their shares in 2001 to CTV Inc. (now Bell Media). ESPN continues to own 20 percent of what is now CTV Specialty Television while Bell Media owns the remaining 80 percent.
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Wikipedia