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ESPN International

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ESPN International
Product typeTelevision networks
OwnerESPN Inc.
(The Walt Disney Company 80%, Hearst Communications 20%)
Produced byBill Rasmussen
CountryUnited States
Introduced1983; 41 years ago (1983)
MarketsAfrica
Asia
Brazil
Canada
Caribbean
Latin America
Middle East
Netherlands
Israel
Italy
Indian subcontinent
Japan
Oceania
Philippines
South Korea
United Kingdom
Previous ownersBill Rasmussen
Capital Cities/ABC

ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company.

Current operations

Canada

Main articles: The Sports Network and Réseau des sports
TSN logo
RDS logo
Logos of TSN (left) and RDS (right). Although these channels have kept their original brands after ESPN acquired part-ownership, they now have ESPN-style logos

ESPN International does not directly operate its own channels in Canada, but owns a 20 percent voting interest (and slightly larger equity interest) in CTV Specialty Television, a subsidiary of the Canadian media company Bell Media. Canadian regulations on the foreign ownership of broadcasters prohibit ESPN from acquiring majority interest.

Although these channels have retained their local brands (ESPN having acquired part-ownership several years after TSN and RDS launched), they adopted ESPN-style logos in 2001, and use other ESPN branding elements such as the SportsCentre title for TSN's sports highlights programs. CTV Specialty also operated a Canadian version of ESPN Classic from 2001 to 2023.

Through CTV Specialty, ESPN also has an indirect interest in Discovery Channel Canada and certain related channels operated in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. These holdings date to CTV Specialty's previous incarnations as Labatt Communications and later as NetStar Communications, in which ESPN also held a minority interest. ESPN is not believed to have any involvement with the WBD-branded operations.

ESPN is also indirectly associated with TSN Radio, a brand used by several sports radio stations (each wholly owned by Bell Media), each of which also carries a limited amount of ESPN Radio programming.

Latin America

Main article: ESPN (Latin America)

Spanish-speaking countries

  • ESPN North (Mexico, Central America and Dominican Republic) (2 feeds)
  • ESPN South (South America) (4 feeds)
  • ESPN2 North (Mexico, Central America and Dominican Republic) (2 feeds)
  • ESPN2 South (South America) (4 feeds)
  • ESPN3 North (Mexico, Central America and Dominican Republic)
  • ESPN3 South (South America) (2 feeds)
  • ESPN4 North (Mexico, Central America and Dominican Republic) (2 feeds)
  • ESPN4 South (South America)
  • ESPN5 North (Central America and Dominican Republic)
  • ESPN5 South (South America, except Argentina) (2 feeds)
  • ESPN6 (Central America, Dominican Republic and South America, except Argentina)
  • ESPN7 (South America, except Argentina)
  • ESPN Premium (Argentina and Chile) (2 feeds
  • ESPN Extra (Ecuador)

Brazil

Main article: ESPN (Brazil)
  • ESPN
  • ESPN2
  • ESPN3
  • ESPN4
  • ESPN5
  • ESPN6

Caribbean

Main article: ESPN Caribbean
  • ESPN
  • ESPN2
  • ESPN Extra

Netherlands

Main article: ESPN (Netherlands)
  • ESPN
  • ESPN2
  • ESPN3
  • ESPN4
  • ESPN Ultra HD

Oceania

Main article: ESPN Australia
  • ESPN
  • ESPN2

Sub-Saharan Africa

Main article: ESPN Africa
  • ESPN
  • ESPN2

Japan

Main article: J Sports

Former operations

Asia-Pacific

In June 2012, News Corporation announced it would acquire ESPN's 50% stake in its joint venture ESPN Star Sports.[1] Following the takeover, ESPN in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia was relaunched as Fox Sports in January 2013,[2] while a version for Mainland China became Star Sports 2 in January 2014.

Canada

Europe

MENA and Israel

South Korea

Indian subcontinent

In January 2013, Star India acquired ESPN India from ESPN Star Sports,[3] but kept ESPN brand for a while.[4] ESPN International later established a partnership with what is now Sony Pictures Networks India in October 2015, and relaunched Sony Kix as Sony ESPN in January 2016. Sony ESPN was shut down in March 2020.

Philippines

United Kingdom

Main article: ESPN in the United Kingdom

ESPN launched ESPN Classic in 2006. The company bought the North American Sports Network (NASN) in 2007, and renamed it ESPN America in 2009. Also in 2009, it launched the domestic network ESPN UK after securing rights to the Premier League.[5]

In February 2013, BT Group acquired ESPN's UK and Ireland television channel and remaining broadcasting contracts. Its domestic channel was re-branded as BT Sport ESPN, integrating it with the company's BT Sport channel group. In January 2015, BT Sport and ESPN reached a seven-year agreement to continue licensing ESPN's brand for the channel, as well as British rights to ESPN original programming and events whose international rights were owned by ESPN International. The agreement also allowed for joint digital media initiatives between the two companies.[6][7] On 1 August 2022, after Warner Bros. Discovery acquired a 50% stake in BT Sport from BT Group, BT Sport ESPN was renamed BT Sport 4,[8][9] and began to phase out its focus on U.S. sports. In November 2023, ESPN announced an agreement with Sky Sports to sub-license college football and basketball coverage.[10]

References

  1. ^ "News Corp. to Buy Out ESPN's Stake in Asian TV Venture". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Fox Sports buys ESPN'S Asia TV channels". Spin. 2013-01-09. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
  3. ^ "ESPN STAR Sports to be under STAR in India". Business Standard. January 28, 2013. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  4. ^ Engineer, Tariq (31 January 2013). "As ESPN turns to Fox, expect more local Indian sports programming". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  5. ^ "ESPN snaps up Premier League TV packages". ESPNsoccernet. 22 June 2009. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  6. ^ "BT Sport and ESPN deepen relationship with long-term collaboration". BT plc. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  7. ^ "BT buys ESPN'S UK and Ireland TV channels". The Guardian. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  8. ^ Metz, Axel (12 May 2022). "BT Sport subscribers to get major package upgrade completely free of charge". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  9. ^ Frater, Patrick (2022-05-12). "Warner Bros. Discovery and BT to Launch Sports Venture in U.K. and Ireland". Variety. Archived from the original on 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  10. ^ "Sky Sports secures rights to show NCAA College Football and Basketball". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
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