ESPN2 is an American sports
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
networkA television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.
Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like
motocrossMotocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
,
snowboardingSnowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
, and
BMXBicycle motocross or BMX refers to the sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles, and it is also the term that refers to the bicycle itself that is designed for dirt and motocross cycling.- History :BMX started...
racing. This mandate was phased out by the late 1990s, as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. ESPN2 is carried in 89 million homes in the United States, eleven million fewer than ESPN.
History
"The Deuce" launched on October 1, 1993 with the first episode of SportsNight, a sports news program originally hosted by
Keith OlbermannKeith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
and
Suzy KolberSuzanne Lisa "Suzy" Kolber is a football sideline reporter, co-producer, and sportscaster for ESPN. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but rejoined ESPN in late 1999....
, where Keith opened the show by jokingly welcoming viewers to "the end of [his] career." SportsNight would also serve as the starting point for many other ESPN personalities, among them
Stuart ScottStuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
,
Suzy KolberSuzanne Lisa "Suzy" Kolber is a football sideline reporter, co-producer, and sportscaster for ESPN. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but rejoined ESPN in late 1999....
and
Kenny MayneKenneth "Kenny" Wheelock Mayne is a sports journalist and comedian for ESPN.-Sports career:A native of Kent, Washington, Mayne is a former honorable mention junior college All-American quarterback in 1978 at Wenatchee Valley Community College in Wenatchee, WA...
.
ESPN2 would also be used for experimental broadcasts and technology. On September 18, 1994, ESPN2 aired a simulcast of ESPN's coverage of
CARTChamp Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
's
Bosch Spark Plug Grand PrixThe Firestone Indy 225 was an IndyCar racing event held at Nazareth Speedway from 1987-2004. From 1987-2001, the event was sanctioned by CART. In 2002, the race switched to the Indy Racing League....
, using only
onboard cameraThe term onboard camera usually refers to that of a camera placed upon an object, for instance a car or an aircraft.In motor racing, onboard cameras are usually used to give a better perspective from the driver's point of view, whilst in films, these cameras are designed to increase the intensity...
feeds. In 1995, ESPN2 debuted a sports
news tickerA news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
, dubbed the "BottomLine," a persistent ticker which stayed at the bottom of the screen at all times during most programming, unlike ESPN, who only shows their own at the :28 and :58 of each hour(accompanied by an audio cue) and during select programming. ESPN2's sports telecasts were also among the first to regularly use a
scoring bugA digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
. In later years, ESPN2 would also participate in "
Full CircleESPN Full Circle is the branding used for multi-network simulcasts of a single sporting event across multiple ESPN networks and serviceswith each feed providing a different version of the telecast making use of different features or functions...
" telecasts, productions of a single game aired across multiple ESPN services to provide additional features and angles.
ESPN2 also featured several half-hour news programs focused on specific sports, such as
NFL 2NightNFL Live is a National Football League studio show, currently airing Monday through Friday at 4:00 p.m and 12:30 a.m ET on the ESPN cable network. Formerly known as NFL 2Night, the program is the only NFL-related studio program to air during the week...
(
footballThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
),
NHL 2NightNHL 2Night was a TV show that had highlights of National Hockey League games five nights a week on ESPN2. It was usually broadcast live at midnight eastern time or immediately following an NHL telecast on ESPN2. It was then re-broadcast a few times throughout the night and following day.The show...
(
hockeyThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
), and
RPM 2NightRPM2Night was an American nightly news program seen on ESPN2 that was devoted entirely to motorsports.The program aired six nights a week from 1995 to 2003...
(
auto racingAuto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
).
In the late 1990s, ESPN2 would to phase out its youth-oriented format and begin to serve as a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream programming. The "graffiti 2" logo was dropped in 2001 and replaced with a variant of ESPN's normal logo, and telecasts began to use a more traditional style. However, on-screen graphics (such as the BottomLine) would use a blue color scheme instead of red to differentiate it from ESPN. On February 12, 2007, the use of ESPN2 branding would also be reducedall graphics and elements would begin to only use the ESPN logo, and the ESPN2 brand would be retained only for identification between the two channels, such as on the BottomLine.
Programming
Sports events presented on ESPN2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as
pokerPoker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
,
billiardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
,
lumberjackA lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
ing, extreme sports and, more recently,
drum and bugle corpsDrum Corps International , formed in 1972, is the non-profit governing body operating the North American drum and bugle corps circuit for junior corps, whose members are between the ages of 14 and 21. It is the counterpart of Drum Corps Associates which governs senior or all-age drum corps...
. However, in recent years ESPN2 has broadcast increasingly more mainstream sporting events, including Major League Baseball games, the
East-West Shrine GameThe East–West Shrine Game is an annual post-season college football all-star game played each January since 1925. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and the net proceeds are earmarked to some of the Shrine's charitable works, most notably the Shriners...
, much of the 2006
World Baseball ClassicThe World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball , the Major League Baseball Players Association , and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world...
, many
Major League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
and NCAA basketball games, the WNBA, the Arena Football League, and NASCAR Nationwide Series races on Saturday afternoons. In 2011, ESPN2 also picked up delayed broadcast rights for some
American Le Mans SeriesThe American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams compete in one of five classes: LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC...
events, with
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
broadcasting the major events.
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 OpenThe French Open |Roland Garros]]) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are...
,
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, and the US Open. Also featured on ESPN2 are the ATP World Tour Finals and US-based tournaments, including the ATP Masters 1000 events at
Indian WellsThe Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....
and
MiamiThe Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
, as well as the US Open Series.
Most of ESPN's soccer output is broadcast on ESPN2. This includes
Major League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
, all Barclays Premier League matches on Saturday mornings and Monday afternoons, two dozen
La LigaThe Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
matches, and the United States'
2010 FIFA World CupThe 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
qualifiers. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the
UEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, until rights for that tournament moved to
Fox Soccer ChannelFox Soccer is an American television specialty channel, owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group, that specializes in soccer. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian rules football, but is now dedicated strictly to soccer...
and its sister stations.
ESPN2's former flagship show, the morning sports/entertainment program
Cold PizzaCold Pizza was a television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2. The show's style was more akin to Good Morning America than SportsCenters straight news and highlights format. It included daily sports news, interviews with sports journalists, athletes, and personalities, and an...
, achieved minimal success and saw several format and host changes. In January 2006, it was supplanted by the TV simulcast of
ESPN RadioESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
's
Mike and Mike in the MorningMike and Mike in the Morning is an American sports-talk radio show hosted by Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio and simulcast on television, normally on ESPN2. If ESPN is broadcasting a live sporting event during the show's timeslot, Sportscenter will air on ESPN2, and the show's...
(which moved from
ESPNewsESPNEWS , launched on November 1, 1996, is a 24-hour-a-day sports news television channel...
) and moved to a later time slot (10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST). In May 2007, Cold Pizza moved from New York City to the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, and was renamed
ESPN First TakeESPN First Take is an American morning sports talk program on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD. The show was formerly known as Cold Pizza. The official switch was made on May 7, 2007. Two back-to-back two-hour episodes air each weekday from Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10 a.m...
. After ESPN became part of a new broadcast contract with the association, ESPN2 also premiered the new daily show
NASCAR NowNASCAR Now is a NASCAR news and analysis show that airs year round Monday through Friday as a thirty minute show at 5:00pm ET on ESPN2. NASCAR Now, that debuted on February 5, 2007, is broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and also has a daily segment on SportsCenter...
(similar to the previous
RPM 2NightRPM2Night was an American nightly news program seen on ESPN2 that was devoted entirely to motorsports.The program aired six nights a week from 1995 to 2003...
, except only focusing on NASCAR) in February 2007.
In 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting
Major League LacrosseMajor League Lacrosse, or MLL, is a professional men's field lacrosse league that is made up of five teams in the United States and one team in Canada.- History :...
games. In March 2007, both agreed on a contract that will run until the 2016 season.
Quite Frankly with Stephen A. SmithQuite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith was a nightly one-hour television show on ESPN2 hosted by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and ESPN reporter Stephen A. Smith. The show premiered on August 1, 2005. It was cancelled on January 11, 2007 because of low ratings. Smith called the cancellation a...
, a program that featured interviews with popular sports figures, had averaged extremely low ratings, and had also faced several time slot changes, until it was finally canceled in January 2007.
High definition
A
720p720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
high definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast of ESPN2 launched in January 2005. Originally branded as ESPN2HD, the channel airs at least 8.5 hours per day of high definition programming (not including live event coverage). As with ESPNHD, ESPN2HD uses stylized pillarboxes during programming not produced in widescreen.
In January 2011, the separate ESPN2HD branding began to be phased out, as in May 2011, the channel would shift to using the widescreen format on both its high definition and standard definition feeds (through
letterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
ing).
Simulcasting
ESPN2 has also simulcast many games with ESPN, usually as a part of a
ESPN Full CircleESPN Full Circle is the branding used for multi-network simulcasts of a single sporting event across multiple ESPN networks and serviceswith each feed providing a different version of the telecast making use of different features or functions...
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 ESPNews programming, often during local blackouts, and for a while provided a Sunday simulcast of
ESPN DeportesESPN Deportes is a cable television and radio network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day to the Spanish-speaking community in the United States...
' SportsCenter. In return, ESPN2 is often seen on ESPN during local blackouts.
ESPN2 also often carries
SportsCenterSportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
on days where the regular ESPN broadcast is overrun by a longer than expected sporting event. ESPN and ESPN2 also jointly aired 2 episodes of a documentary special called This is SportsCenter, where ESPN showed a documentary showing the production of a SportsCenter episode, while the finished product aired on ESPN2.
Both ESPN and ESPN2 carried
ABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
ESPN2 also aired the men's basketball SEC Championship Game in 2008 to most of the nation, since a storm damaged the initial site of the tournament, causing the schedule to be rearranged in conflict with CBS's coverage of the Big Ten Championship Game. The game was produced by CBS. In SEC territory, the Big Ten game appeared on ESPN2.