The ESPN Channel In the dark ages of television, there was no place the dedicated sports fan could

go to in order to get access to sports and sport-related programs 24 hours a day. Then can the dawning of a new era, an era where a hardcore sports fan could revel in the joy of watching sports and sports-related shows all day. This gallant knight, clad in a football helmet and riding atop a thoroughbred race horse was named "the ESPN Channel." Ancient History ESPN has actually been around longer than many people realize. The company that would become ESPN was first envisioned by Bill Rasmussen, his son Scott and Ed Eagan, with financial backing from the Getty Oil Company. The first iteration of the sports network actually started on September 7th, 1979 at 7:00pm. It was estimated that some 30,000 viewers tuned in for that first Sportscenter broadcast. It wasn't until 1982, however, that the station really began to pick up steam, with the acquisition of a six year contract with the National Basketball Association. Another major boost in ESPN's popularity came in 1987 when they contracted with the NFL, which agreed to partner with ESPN as long as they could simulcast on standard network television. For the next 19 years, ESPN broadcast Sunday Night Football. In 2006 the channel began broadcasting Monday Night Football as well. 1990 was another banner year for the ESPN channel, as they added a contract with the Major Baseball League, allowing the airing of MLB games to be added to the channel's already impressive lineup. In the 1990s, the company saw a tremendous amount of growth, adding ESPN-2 and ESPN radio to the ESPN banner. In 1997, they added a classic sports channel to their company, ESPN Classic and followed that up with the addition of ESPNU for college sports in 2005. During this period, the company also expanded internationally, taking advantage of international satellite markets. It wasn't until 2004 when the network expanded to the European market. After the purchase of ABC by the Disney Corporation in 2006, ABC and ESPN began to become more integrated, with ABC adopting a style of reporting similar to that of ESPN. However, legally, the two entities are still separate. Today, with several stations under the ESPN umbrella, the station has offices in Bristol, Connecticut, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Charlotte NC and Seattle WA. Though it is the most well-respected sports channel on television, it hasn't been a stranger to criticism. Accusations include conflicts of interest, bias towards certain sports teams and various controversies between broadcasters and analysts. ESPN Programming ESPN programming is solely sports focused. One major draw of the channel is its broadcasting of live sports events, and these events have remained the most popular of the show's shows since its inception. Aside from live broadcasts from most of the major sporting events, programming on the channel consists of various highlight, talk and documentary style shows. All of these shows are about sports in one way or another. Because these shows tend to revolve around the sports events to which they are tied, the lineup of shows broadcast during the year can change significantly as different sports seasons begin and others end. One particularly unique "show" that airs on ESPN is the 18/58 update which offers a consolidated update of sports scores at the 18 minute and 58 minute mark of each hour.