ESPN, LLC
 | |
 ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. | |
| Formerly | ESPN, Inc. |
|---|---|
Company type | Joint venture |
| Industry | Sports broadcasting |
| Founded | September 7, 1979 |
| Founders | Bill and Scott Rasmussen and Ed Egan |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | James Pitaro (chairman) |
| Owners | The Walt Disney Company (72%; via ABC Inc.) Hearst Communications (18%) National Football League (10%) |
Number of employees | 9,464 (2024) |
| Website | espn.com |
ESPN, LLC, previously known as ESPN, Inc., is an American multinational sports media conglomerate founded by Bill Rasmussen on September 7, 1979 and currently majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company via indirect subsidiary ABC Inc.[1] as one of its three major business segments, with Hearst Communications and the National Football League as equity stakeholders.[2]
Currently headed by executive James Pitaro since March 5, 2018, it owns and operates the ESPN-branded cable television, satellite television and streaming media channels and services including ESPN itself, ESPN DTC, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ACC Network, SEC Network, 20% of TSN and the sports division of ABC. It also operates the international variants of ESPN via ESPN International.[3][4][5]
Programming on its television networks include broadcasts of live or tape-delayed sporting events and sports-related programming including talk shows and original documentary series and films.[6]
History
[edit]ESPN Inc. was founded by Bill Rasmussen, Scott Rasmussen, and Ed Egan initially as an attempt to broadcast sports in Connecticut over an "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network" (ESPN) cable channel, and soon became a nationwide cable sports network. Shortly after being terminated as the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers communications director in 1978, Rasmussen conceived of a plan to produce Connecticut sports events for Connecticut cable systems.[7] With his son, Scott, they had moved beyond that, considering a national sports channel doable.[7] RCA had an underused satellite and was pushing for customers. Finding it cheaper by the hour to rent a satellite transponder full-time, instead of 5 hours a day, the Rasmussens changed their plans from creating a Connecticut sports channel to creating a national cable network.[8]
On February 7, 1979, Bill Rasmussen got the NCAA to agree, in principle, to grant ESPN broadcast rights for NCAA sports. The next day at the Texas Cable Show exposition, he was able to get cable companies on board. An advertising contract with Anheuser-Busch was in talks at that time, and Getty Oil came on board as its major source of capital. In 1979, Rasmussen purchased the first acre of land for ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.[7] With a reasonable payment plan in July 1979, Rasmussen leased RCA's Satcom 1 transponder using his credit card. Anheuser-Busch became a major sponsor, signing a $1.4 million ad contract, a record at the time. Getty Oil invested $10 million into ESPN getting a controlling stake in 1979.[8]
On September 7, 1979, the ESPN cable channel went on the air,[7] with 24 hours of programming on the weekends and limited hours during the week. 625 cable system affiliates were signed up at launch and they had one million household subscribed total (out of 20 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.[8]
In 1980, the company was named in a Texas divorce filing. Groundbreaking for its headquarters took place one year earlier.