ESPN2
Country | United States |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Bristol, Connecticut |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English and Spanish |
Picture format | 720p (HDTV) Downgraded to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed |
Ownership | |
Owner | The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Communications (20%) |
Parent | ESPN Inc. |
Sister channels | List |
History | |
Launched | October 1, 1993 |
Links | |
Website | espnpressroom |
Availability | |
Internet Protocol television |
ESPN2 is an American multinational
ESPN2 was initially formatted as a younger-skewing counterpart to its parent network
As of November 2021, ESPN2 reached approximately 76 million television households in the United States - a drop of 24% from nearly a decade ago.[1] As of June 2023[update], the channel's reach had been reduced to 72.5 million homes.[2]
History
ESPN2 launched on October 1, 1993, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Its inaugural program was the premiere of SportsNight, a sports news program originally hosted by Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber; Olbermann opened the show and the channel by jokingly welcoming viewers to "the end of our careers."[3] Launching with an estimated carriage of about 10 million homes, and nicknamed "The Deuce",[4] ESPN2 aimed to be a more informal and youth-oriented channel than parent network ESPN. The youthful image was also reflected in its overall presentation, which featured a graffiti-themed logo and on-air graphics.[5][6]
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 Jim Rome that was billed as an equivalent to CNN's Larry King Live, Max Out—an extreme sports anthology series carried over from ESPN, and SportsSmash—a five-minute recap of sports headlines which aired every half-hour. ESPN2 also carried several half-hour, sport-specific studio programs under the 2Night banner, such as NFL 2Night, NHL 2Night, and RPM 2Night. 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 (where, beginning in the 1993–94 season, it aired up to five games per-week under the title NHL Fire on Ice),[7][8] while also covering atypical sports such as BMX and other extreme sports.[5]
ESPN2 would also be used to showcase new technology and experimental means of broadcasting events: on September 18, 1994, ESPN2 simulcast
In the late 1990s, ESPN2 began to phase out its youth-oriented format, and transitioned to becoming a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports programming; telecasts began to adopt a more conventional style, and the "graffiti 2" logo was dropped in 2001 in favor of a version of ESPN's main logo. On-screen graphics (such as the BottomLine) used a blue color scheme instead of red to differentiate them from ESPN. Since February 12, 2007, the ESPN2 brand has been used for station identification only, with all programming using the same on-air presentation and ESPN branding as those on the main network.[10]
Programming
Sports events presented on ESPN2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as
The channel has also become ESPN's home for tennis coverage. The showpieces are all four of the "Grand Slam" tournaments: the
Most of ESPN's soccer output has been broadcast on ESPN2, including Major League Soccer, Premier League and La Liga matches; the channel also broadcast the United States' FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2009. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the UEFA Champions League, until rights for that tournament moved to Fox Soccer and its sister networks. In 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting Major League Lacrosse games. In March 2007, ESPN2 and the league agreed on a new broadcast contract that ran until the 2016 season.[11]
On October 4, 2017, ESPN announced that it had acquired rights to the
The NHL returned to ESPN in the
ESPN2's former flagship show, the morning sports/entertainment program
On August 8, 2018, ESPN2
Simulcasting and alternative telecasts
ESPN2 has also simulcast many game telecasts with ESPN, usually as a part of a
ESPN2 also often carries SportsCenter at times when the broadcast on ESPN is delayed by a sporting event that overruns into one of the program's scheduled timeslots. ESPN and ESPN2 also jointly aired two episodes of a documentary special called This is SportsCenter, in which ESPN showed a documentary showing the production of an edition of SportsCenter, while the finished product aired on ESPN2. The documentary would usually air for two hours, where the first hour would cover the preliminary production of the night's show on ESPN, while ESPN2 aired ESPN's regular programming. The second hour usually spent time at production control while covering reaction to the night's developments.
On March 16, 2008, ESPN2 aired
ESPN2 has occasionally been used to carry simulcasts of ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language coverage of events, in an effort to promote the channel and improve the availability of the telecasts (as ESPN2 is available in a significantly larger number of homes than ESPN Deportes), while also reducing the need to
In the 2021 season, the Spanish simulcast of MNF was replaced with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli (colloquially known as the "Manningcast"), which is hosted by Eli and Peyton Manning, and features appearances by other celebrity guests.[23][24][25]
High definition
ESPN2 broadcasts in high definition in the 720p resolution format, which was launched in January 2005. In January 2011, the separate ESPN2HD branding began to be phased out, as in May of that year, the channel would shift to using the AFD #10 flag to transmit the channel's standard definition feed in letterboxed widescreen, mirroring the display of the high definition feed, with the SD feed eventually phased out to allow downscaling of the HD feed for the standard definition channel.
References
- ^ "ESPN Pay-TV Carriage Fell Another 10% To End Fiscal 2021 At 76 Million U.S. Households". November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ Robert Seidman (June 4, 2023). "How many homes the sports networks are available in". Internet Compost.
- ^ Hiestand, Michael (August 28, 2007). "Olbermann's career veers onto NFL path". USA Today. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ^ "'Dodgeball' director on origins of ESPN 8". USA Today. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
- ^ a b "Whether you get it or not, ESPN2 has no tie to the tried and true". Baltimore Sun. October 1, 1993. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ^ "Remembering stuff ESPN used to put on TV". SB Nation. Vox Media. January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
- ^ "For youth-minded ESPN2, casual is in when they're talking 'puck'". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
- ^ "ESPN2 TAKES AIM AT YOUNG, RESTLESS". Steve Nidetz (Chicago Tribune). October 1, 1993. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ^ Hiestand, Michael (March 7, 2008). "Dedicated staff keeps close watch on ESPN's Bottom Line". USA Today. Retrieved March 27, 2008.
- ^ "The Last Days Of ESPN2". Deadspin. February 1, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
- ^ "Full News Archive". Major League Lacrosse. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
- ^ "Formula 1 says goodbye to NBC, hello to ESPN in 2018". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- ^ Bucholtz, Andrew (May 2, 2022). "First NHL playoffs under ESPN/Turner deal has all games set for big networks despite NBA, but has potential overflow issues". Awful Announcing. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
- ^ Quite Frankly... There's No One Watching Your Show
- ^ Quite Frankly Host Smith Unhappy About Show's Development
- ^ Steinberg, Brian (August 8, 2018). "Bold strategy, Cotton: Inside ESPN's crazy plans to turn 'The Ocho' into a business". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- ^ "ESPN2 steps in to televise SEC title game Sunday". ESPN.com. March 15, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ "SEC's TV decision offers a clue about future". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ "Seen on Screen: ESPN2 to Simulcast NBA Christmas Day Game in Spanish; CSN Chicago Reairs Cubs World Series Run". Sports Video Group. December 15, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ^ "Spanish-language 'Monday Night Football' coming to ESPN2". New York Business Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ^ "Spanish-language 'MNF' coming to ESPN2". Sports Business Daily. September 4, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "ESPN Deportes picks up Super Bowl Spanish-language rights". SportsPro. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- ^ Patra, Kevin (July 19, 2021). "Peyton, Eli Manning to headline alternate 'Monday Night Football' telecast". NFL.com. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ "'Manningcast' draws nearly 2 million viewers, but trails traditional MNF broadcast". ca.sports.yahoo.com. October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
- ^ "What happened when Marshawn Lynch, Sue Bird, Brady and Brees joined Peyton & Eli on the MNF ManningCast". ESPN.com. October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.