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. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the spring of 1979 the company invested $1 million to be the 'exclusive beer advertised on the network.' ESPN's first logo, used from 1979 to 1985ĮSPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program, SportsCenter. This helped the credibility of the fledgling company however, there were still many doubters about the viability of their sports channel concept.

Available land to build their own facility on was quickly found in Bristol, Connecticut (where the channel remains headquartered to this day), with funding to buy the property provided by Getty Oil, which purchased 85% of the company from Bill Rasmussen on February 22, 1979, in an attempt to diversify the company's holdings. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because of a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop satellite dishes. Rasmussen and his ESPN co-founder Ed Eagan, joined by Rasmussen's son Scott (who had also been let go by the Whalers), first rented office space in Plainville, Connecticut. History īill Rasmussen came up with the concept of ESPN in May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers. Despite the network's success, criticism of ESPN includes accusations of biased coverage, conflict of interest, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts. In Canada, it owns a 20% interest in The Sports Network (TSN) and its five sister networks. It operates regional channels in Africa, Australia, Latin America and the Netherlands. In addition to the flagship channel and its seven related channels in the United States, ESPN broadcasts in more than 200 countries. As of June 2023, the channel's reach had been reduced to 72.5 million homes. Headquarters in Bristol, ConnecticutĪs of November 2021, ESPN reached approximately 76 million television households in the United States-a drop of 24% from nearly a decade prior. James Pitaro currently serves as chairman of ESPN, a position he has held since March 5, 2018, following the resignation of John Skipper on December 18, 2017. The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios in Miami, New York City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. ĮSPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut. The company was founded in 1979 as the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network by Bill Rasmussen, Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TVĮSPN is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by The Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communications (20%) through the joint venture ESPN Inc.

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