ESPN, Inc., cable television sports-broadcasting network based in Bristol, Conn. It was launched in 1979 and is one of the largest cable networks in the United States. Its success engendered additional ESPN networks, including an international sports network.
New England sports announcer William Rasmussen founded ESPN to broadcast New England Whalers hockey games and University of Connecticut sports events. It was purchased by the Getty Oil Company before it began broadcasting in 1979, the year it began signing large advertising contracts. In 1984 it was sold to ABC, Inc., and three years later began broadcasting National Football League games on Sunday nights. Though a cable network, ESPN competed with the established networks in producing live sporting events. In 1990 it paid $400 million to Major League Baseball to broadcast 175 games annually for four years. National Hockey League games, college basketball and football games, including bowl and all-star games, and bowling, golf, martial arts, tennis, and lacrosse matches were among the more than 65 sports broadcast on ESPN, which transmitted 24 hours a day.
ESPN began distributing sports programming outside the United States in 1983, leading to the formation of ESPN International five years later. ESPN International broadcast regional sports programs, including cricket in India and association football (soccer) in Latin America, as well as sporting events in the United States. In the 1990s ESPN founded a radio sports network; added cable networks, including ESPN2, ESPNEWS, and ESPN Classic, featuring rebroadcasts of classic sporting events; launched a sports Web site and ESPN The Magazine; and introduced a chain of sports-themed restaurants. The company continued to experience considerable growth in the new millennium. ESPN entered the European market in 2002 with the launch of a version of ESPN Classic and began ESPNU, featuring college sports, in 2005.