. espn2 launched october 1 1993 1993 10 01 owned by espn inc. the walt disney company 80 % hearst corporation 20 % picture format 720p hdtv downgraded to letterboxed 480i for sdtv feed country united states language english broadcast area nationwide headquarters bristol connecticut sister channel s espn espn3 espnews espnu espn deportes espn classic longhorn network sec network website espn.go.com espntv onair index availability satellite directv 209 209 2 alternate feed dish network 143 146 alternate feed cable available on most u.s. cable systems consult your local cable provider for channel availability iptv at & t u verse 1606 606 sd verizon fios 574 74 sd streaming media watchespn or espn app watchespn.com u.s. cable subscribers only ; requires login from pay television provider to access content sling tv internet protocol television playstation vue internet protocol television espn2 is an american basic cable and satellite television network that is owned by espn inc. a joint venture between the walt disney company which owns a controlling 80 % stake and the hearst corporation which owns the remaining 20 % . espn2 was initially formatted as a network for a younger generation of sports fans ; by the late 1990s this mandate was phased out as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for espn s mainstream sports coverage . as of february 2015 espn2 is available to approximately 94 379 000 pay television households 81.1 % of households with at least one television set in the united states . 1 contents 1 history 2 programming 2.1 simulcasting 3 high definition 4 references 5 external links history edit espn2 launched on october 1 1993 at 7 30 p.m. eastern time . its inaugural program was the premiere of sportsnight a sports news program originally hosted by keith olbermann and suzy kolber where olbermann opened the show by jokingly welcoming viewers to the end of our careers . 2 launching with an estimated carriage of about 10 million homes espn2 aimed to be a more informal and youth oriented channel than parent network espn featuring a heavier emphasis on programming that would appeal to the demographic . the youthful image was also reflected in its overall presentation which featured a graffiti themed logo and on air graphics . 3 4 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 radio personality jim rome which was billed as a sports parallel to cnn s larry king live max out an extreme sports anthology series carried over from espn and sportssmash a five minute rundown of sports news and scores which aired every half hour . espn2 also featured several half hour news programs focused on specific sports such as nfl 2night football nhl 2night hockey and rpm 2night auto racing . 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 which was branded as nhl fire on ice 5 while also covering atypical sports such as bmx and other extreme sports . 3 espn2 would also be used to showcase new technology and experimental means of broadcasting events on september 18 1994 espn2 simulcast cart s bosch spark plug grand prix using only onboard camera feeds . in 1995 espn2 introduced the bottomline a persistent news ticker which displayed sports news and scores . the bottomline would later be adopted by espn itself and all of its future properties . 6 in the late 1990s espn2 would phase out its youth oriented format and begin to serve as a secondary outlet for espn s mainstream programming ; telecasts began to adopt a more conventional style and the graffiti 2 logo was dropped in 2001 in favor of a variation of the standard espn logo . on screen graphics such as the bottomline used a blue color scheme instead of red to differentiate it from espn . on february 12 2007 the espn2 branding was stripped from most on air presentation and replaced with espn the espn2 brand is now solely used for station identification . 7 programming edit see also list of programs broadcast by espn and list of espn sports properties sports events presented on espn2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as poker billiards lumberjacking extreme sports and more recently drum and bugle corps . however in recent years espn2 has broadcast increasingly more mainstream sporting events including major league baseball games the east west shrine game much of the 2006 world baseball classic regular season khl games many major league soccer games ncaa basketball games the wnba the arena football league and saturday afternoon nascar nationwide series races . in 2011 espn2 also acquired broadcast rights to delayed coverage for some american le mans series events with series major events airing on abc . the channel has also become espn s home for tennis coverage . the showpieces are all four of the grand slam tournaments the australian open the french open wimbledon and the us open . also featured on espn2 are the atp world tour finals and u.s. based tournaments including the atp masters 1000 events at indian wells and miami as well as the us open series . 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 will run until the 2016 season . 8 espn2 s former flagship show the morning sports entertainment program cold pizza achieved minimal success and saw several format and host changes . in january 2006 it was supplanted by the television simulcast of espn radio s mike and mike in the morning which moved from espnews and moved to a later time slot 10 00 a.m. to 12 00 p.m. eastern time . in may 2007 cold pizza moved from new york city to the espn headquarters in bristol connecticut and was renamed espn first take . after espn became part of a new broadcast contract with the association espn2 also premiered the new daily show nascar now similar to the previous rpm 2night except only focusing on nascar in february 2007 . quite frankly with stephen a. smith a program that featured interviews with popular sports figures had averaged extremely low ratings 9 10 and had also faced several timeslot changes until it was finally canceled in january 2007 . simulcasting edit espn2 has also simulcast many game telecasts with espn usually as a part of a full circle or megacast special which covers a single telecast across several espn networks with each network providing a different form of coverage such as different camera angles . espn2 also simulcasts some programming from espnews often during local blackouts of scheduled national game telecasts and for a while provided a simulcast of espn deportes edition of sportscenter on sundays . in return espn2 programming is often seen on espn during blackouts of games in certain markets . 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 . both espn and espn2 carried abc news coverage of the terrorist attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon and the related crash of united airlines flight 93 in shanksville pennsylvania on september 11 2001 . espn2 also aired the 2008 sec men s basketball tournament championship game in 2008 to most of the nation since a storm damaged the original game site the georgia dome causing the schedule to be rearranged and site to be moved to the smaller alexander memorial coliseum . the new schedule was in conflict with cbs s coverage of the big ten championship game ; the game was produced by cbs . in the territory of the southeastern conference the big ten game aired on espn2 . high definition edit 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 . references edit seidman robert february 22 2015 . list of how many homes each cable network is in as of february 2015 . tv by the numbers . zap2it . retrieved february 23 2015 . hiestand michael august 28 2007 . olbermann s career veers onto nfl path . usa today . retrieved september 25 2012 . a b whether you get it or not espn2 has no tie to the tried and true . baltimore sun . october 1 1993 . retrieved september 25 2012 . remembering stuff espn used to put on tv . sb nation . vox media . retrieved 29 january 2016 . for youth minded espn2 casual is in when they re talking puck . baltimore sun . retrieved 30 january 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 . february 1 2012 . deadspin . retrieved september 26 2012 . full news archive . major league lacrosse . retrieved 2013 11 03 . quite frankly ... there s no one watching your show quite frankly host smith unhappy about show s development external links edit official website links to related articles v t e sports television in the united states broadcast divisions english american sports network cbs sports espn on abc fox sports nbc sports spanish azteca am rica mundomax nbc deportes telemundo nbc universo univision deportes national channels english bein sports cbs sports network espn espn2 fox sports 1 fox sports 2 nbcsn spanish bein sports en espa ol espn deportes fox deportes univision deportes network specialty channels college big ten network espnu fox college sports longhorn network pac 12 network sec network single sport cricket ticketo espn college extra espn goal line buzzer beaterp fox soccer plusp gol tv golf channel in demandp mlb network mlb extra inningso mlb strike zonep mls direct kicko nba league passo nba tv nfl network nfl redzonep nfl sunday ticketo nhl network nhl center iceo tennis channel tvg tvg2 willow outdoors frost great outdoors outdoor channel pursuit channel sportsman channel other espn classic espnews espn ppvp mavtv one world sports occasional broadcasts axs tv byutv cnbc comet geb america hbo ion television lesea world harvest mtv2 nbc universo pbs pop showtime spike syfy turner sports tbs tnt trutv universal hd usa network wgn sports wgn tv wgn america syndicators acc network raycom sports big 12 network espn events wfn broadband services espn3 fox sports go mlb.tv ufc fight pass wwe network video on demand only services the ski channel surf channel regional sports networks v t