ESPN Australia

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ESPN Australia
ESPN wordmark.svg
ESPN logo
Launched 1996 (Optus TV)
April 1999 (Austar)
September 2002 (Foxtel)
Network ESPN
Picture format 576i (SDTV)
720p (HDTV)
Audience share (In Australia)
0.1% (April 2008, 1)
Slogan The Worldwide Leader in Sports
Country Australia
Language English
Broadcast area Australia,
New Zealand
Formerly called Sports ESPN
Sister channel(s) ESPN2
Website www.espn.com.au
Availability
Satellite
Foxtel/Austar Channel 508 (SD/HD)
Channel 1508 (SD)
SKY TV Channel 061 (SD/HD)
Channel 061 (SD)
Cable
Foxtel Channel 508 (SD/HD)
Channel 1508 (SD)
Optus TV Channel 508
Neighbourhood Cable Channel 18
TransACT Channel 351
Vodafone Channel 61
IPTV
Xbox 360 Channel 508

ESPN Australia is a 24 hour sports channel offered in Australia and New Zealand.

Initially, ESPN was known as Sports ESPN on the Optus Vision cable television system, and focused on sports aired by its home network in the United States, including American football, baseball, and basketball. In order to expand its local reach, it has shown an increasing amount of football games including La Liga (not as of August 2012) in Spain, UEFA Champions League (shared with SBS), World Cup qualifying games, and Major League Soccer. Also on the network schedule are rugby matches and Cricket matches.

ESPN Australia has also commenced showing locally-produced content including Australian versions of PTI and SportsCenter. They also air a soccer discussion show Monday to Friday called ESPNsoccernet PressPass which is hosted by Andrew Orsatti.

On 1 March 2011 ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD launched in Australia.

Contents

History

It became available on Austar in April 1999,2 and Foxtel in September 2002.3

Content

The following is the list of sports programming shown on the ESPN network (with some being shown only on ESPN and not ESPN2, and vice versa).4

Athletics

American Football

Baseball

Basketball

Cricket

Fighting

Golf

Horse-racing

Motor Racing

Rugby Union

Soccer

Tennis

Poker

X Games

Other Programming

News & Info

ESPN HD

ESPN HD was one of first five channels to be available in HD when Foxtel HD+ launched. ESPN HD commenced in June 2008. The SD version of ESPN began broadcasting in widescreen on 25 January 2010. On 2 June 2011 ESPN HD (the HD simulcast) and ESPN3.com launched in New Zealand on Sky.5

ESPN 3D

ESPN 3D launched in Australia on the 30th, July 2010. The channel launched to show 8 hours of the X Games 16 live in 3D. ESPN 3D is currently only available in the U.S. and Australia via Foxtel IQ2 and Austar MyStar HD.6 Foxtel 3D launched on 1 November 2010 which shows all of ESPN 3D's content - with ESPN 3D no longer having its own channel. Since the launch of Foxtel 3D, Austar has not had access to 3D content from ESPN, with it unknown if Austar will offer Foxtel 3D any time in the near future.

References

  1. ^ Ratings Week 16 (13/04/2008 - 19/04/2008)
  2. ^ Joyce, James (26 March 1999). Friday Guide. "Tunedin". Newcastle Herald. p. 6. Retrieved 3 May 2010. 
  3. ^ Schulze, Jane (2 September 2002). "Seven prepares for spat over sport". The Australian. p. 32. 
  4. ^ "espn.com.au". ESPN. Retrieved 2011-12-21. 
  5. ^ Duffy, Louise. "ESPN launches ESPN HD and ESPN3 in NZ". Rapid News TV. Retrieved 2 June 2011. 
  6. ^ Laughlin, Andrew. "ESPN to run 3D broadcast in Australia". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 July 2010. 

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