ESPN Inc.
On the 7th of September 1979, the ESPN cable channel went on the air with limited hours during the week and twenty-four hours of programming on weekends. Six hundred twenty-five cable system affiliates were signed up at launch for a total of one million household subscribers out of twenty million households with cable. The channel's first game featured the Milwaukee Schlitz and the Kentucky Bourbons in the deciding game of the championship series of the American Professional Slo-Pitch League. Bill Rasmussen had moved beyond his initial plan to produce Connecticut sports events after being terminated as the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers communications director in 1978. He found it cheaper by the hour to rent an RCA Satcom 1 transponder full-time instead of five hours a day. An advertising contract with Anheuser-Busch was in talks when Getty Oil came on board as its major source of capital. Getty Oil invested ten million dollars into ESPN getting a controlling stake in 1979. Rasmussen purchased the first acre of land for ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, with a reasonable payment plan in July 1979.
Investing another fifteen million dollars into the company and no profits expected any time soon, Getty used management consultant McKinsey & Co. to assess ESPN's future. Roger Werner figured that with another one hundred twenty million dollars and five years ESPN would become a profit maker. Werner developed a new revenue source beyond advertising by initiating revolutionary affiliate fees paid by the cable operators by number of subscribers starting at six cents. Between CBS Cable folding in October 1982 and the new CEO, Bill Grimes, they convinced most of the reluctant cable providers to pay. By 1985, the fee had risen to ten cents. NBC Sports President Chet Simmons was hired to help run the cable channel but later clashed with Getty Oil executives. At the end of 1980, Rasmussen was removed as company president by Getty Oil executive Stuart Evey, relegating him to a ceremonial role. Rasmussen left in 1981 and sold his remaining stock in 1984. In 1983, the company became the largest cable channel with twenty-eight point five million households.
In 1984, the American ABC television network purchased a controlling stake in the company. ABC later merged with Capital Cities Communications, and the combined company was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. Steve Bornstein replaced Roger Werner as CEO after Werner resigned in October 1990 for another sports CEO job. Bornstein moved up from the second position of executive vice-president in charge of programming and production. ESPN started out expanding into other nations and additional channels when the ESPN International unit was formed in 1988. They began channels in other nations starting with ESPN Latin America in 1989. In 1992, ESPN Asia was launched. RJR Nabisco sold its twenty percent stake in ESPN to the Hearst Corporation. The company also acquired Creative Sports and an eighty percent stake in SportsTicker from Dow Jones in 1994.
ESPN entered the United Kingdom in 2006 when pan-European ESPN Classic was added to Sky Digital. On the 22nd of June 2009, a day before Setanta UK collapsed into administration, ESPN announced they had snapped up the rights from the 2009, 10 season to the 2012, 13 season. ESPN UK launched in August 2009, forming as part of a new TV package with America and Classic. By 2012, the network had begun to lose many of its key sports rights, including the Premier League, to BT Group. On the 25th of January 2013, ESPN reached a deal to sell its television business in the United Kingdom and Ireland to BT Group. The main ESPN network following the BT purchase transitioned to airing North American Sports programming and in June 2015 was renamed BT Sport ESPN. In Canada, ESPN partnered with several Canadian firms to form NetStar Communications in 1995 which then acquired TSN and RDS. These partners sold their shares in 2001 to CTV Inc. while ESPN continues to own twenty percent of what is now Bell Media.
In August 2016, Disney purchased a one-third stake in BAMTech for one billion dollars from MLB Advanced Media with an option to purchase a majority share. Disney later exercised that option and now owns eighty-five percent. They purchased the stake to first develop an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service named ESPN+. On the 6th of February 2024, ESPN announced a joint venture with Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch Venu Sports offering three organizations' main linear sports channels. However, after being met with antitrust lawsuits, the venture was folded in January 2025. In May 2025 during Disney's upfronts, ESPN announced a major realignment of its streaming business. This would see the launch of a flagship ESPN OTT service in late-2025 offering all of ESPN's linear television content on a direct-to-consumer basis. On the 8th of August 2023, Penn Entertainment announced a two billion dollar agreement with ESPN to rebrand Barstool Sportsbook as ESPN Bet.
On the 5th of August 2025, ESPN Inc. announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire the National Football League's NFL Media division. Under the agreement, ESPN would acquire NFL Network, television distribution rights to NFL RedZone, and the league's official fantasy football service. The NFL would take a ten percent equity stake in ESPN while NFL Network would become part of the forthcoming ESPN streaming service. Pending regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to be completed at some point in 2026. On the 31st of January 2026, government regulators approved the deal with the agreement closing shortly thereafter. NFL employees were announced to officially become ESPN employees in April. The acquisition excludes properties such as NFL Films, NFL.com, and NFL+. The NFL would continue to produce RedZone for ESPN while ESPN will reassign selected games from its NFL broadcast package to NFL Network's exclusive game package.
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Common questions
When did ESPN cable channel go on the air?
The ESPN cable channel went on the air on the 7th of September 1979. It launched with limited hours during the week and twenty-four hours of programming on weekends.
Who founded ESPN and when was it established?
Bill Rasmussen founded ESPN after being terminated as the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers communications director in 1978. He purchased the first acre of land for ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, in July 1979.
What year did Disney purchase a controlling stake in ESPN?
ABC later merged with Capital Cities Communications, and the combined company was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. This transaction gave Disney control over the American sports media conglomerate.
When did ESPN launch its streaming service ESPN+?
Disney purchased a one-third stake in BAMTech for one billion dollars from MLB Advanced Media in August 2016 to develop an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service named ESPN+. The flagship ESPN OTT service is scheduled to launch in late-2025.
When will the acquisition of NFL Media be completed?
Government regulators approved the deal on the 31st of January 2026 with the agreement closing shortly thereafter. Pending regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to be completed at some point in 2026.