ESPN International

ESPN International is a family of networks around the world. It was begun in 1989 and is operated by ESPN.

Operating Regions

Brazil:

Caribbean:

Latin America:

Oceania:

Removal from Asia

On January 28, 2013, ESPN Asia was renamed to Fox Sports Asia. Since its inception in 1992, the network operated as a joint venture between STAR TV (owned by 21st Century Fox) and ESPN. However, in late 2012, ESPN International agreed to sell its 50% stake in the network and its affiliates. All channels were rebranded with Fox Sports or STAR Sports as its prefix except in India, Southern Asia, Korea and China.[1]

Cessation of Operations

ESPN International decided to stop broadcasting in several regions. However, despite the cessation of broadcasting in these areas, ESPN maintained ownership and operation of their digital properties. Those regions include:

Africa, Middle East and Israel[2]

United Kingdom:[3]

Canada

ESPN International does not directly operate its own channels in Canada, but owns a 20 percent voting interest (and slightly larger equity interest) in CTV Specialty Television, a subsidiary of the Canadian media company Bell Media. Canadian regulations on the foreign ownership of broadcasters prohibit ESPN from acquiring majority interest.

CTV Specialty Television in turn operates the following sports television channels:

Although these channels have mainly retained their local brands (ESPN having acquired part-ownership several years after TSN and RDS launched), they now mostly have ESPN-style logos and use other ESPN branding elements. TSN has also adopted the SportsCentre title for its sports highlights programs.

Through CTV Specialty, ESPN also has an indirect interest in Discovery Channel Canada and several related channels, which are operated in partnership with Discovery Communications. These holdings date to CTV Specialty's previous incarnations as Labatt Communications and later as NetStar Communications, in which ESPN also held a minority interest. ESPN is not believed to have any involvement with the Discovery operations.

ESPN is also indirectly associated with TSN Radio, a brand used by several sports radio stations (each wholly owned by Bell Media), each of which also carries a limited amount of ESPN Radio programming.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Fox Sports buys ESPN'S Asia TV channels". Spin. 2013-01-09. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
  2. ↑ "American sports fans cry foul as ESPN yanks Israeli broadcasts". Haaretz. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  3. ↑ "BT buys ESPN'S UK and Ireland TV channels". The Guardian. 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2013-10-22.

External links