TruTV is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of comedy, docusoaps and reality shows, with a recent strong primetime focus on live sports programming produced by TNT Sports.
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television broadcaster CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studios 43 and 44 of the CBS Broadcast Center on W 57th Street.
ESPN on ABC is the branding used for sports event and documentary programming televised by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States. Officially, the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, in 2006, ABC's sports division was merged into ESPN Inc., which is the parent subsidiary of the cable sports network ESPN that is majority owned by ABC's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, in partnership with Hearst Communications.
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels. Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of sports events, including the Premier League, the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, the National Football League (NFL), the NBA, Notre Dame football, Big Ten football and basketball, the Olympic Games, professional golf, the Tour de France, Thoroughbred racing, and the WNBA among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.
Fox Sports, stylized in all caps, is the sports programming division of the Fox Corporation that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Fox Sports 2 (FS2), and the Fox Sports Radio network.
ESPN America was a British-based European sports network, focusing on professional and collegiate sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched on 5 December 2002 as NASN, ESPN America broadcast a selection of top North American professional and collegiate sports leagues including Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Canadian Football League (CFL), 24 hours a day on digital cable and digital satellite television.
ESPN Deportes is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications. The network is aimed primarily at the Hispanic community in the United States. The channel broadcasts from studio facilities at ESPN's traditional bases of operations in Los Angeles, and Bristol, Connecticut, along with their Mexican base in Mexico City.
Xing Kong is a Mandarin-language television channel targeting Mainland China, currently owned by Star China Media. The channel was originally launched by Star TV in Hong Kong, but Star TV later sold the channel to China Media Capital. It was voted "Satellite Channel of the Year" at the 2002 China Television Programme Awards. The channel is packed with more than 700 hours of original programming each year, with content that includes drama series, music, news, cartoon, comedies, variety, lifestyle, health, food, home and living, talk and game shows. Xing Kong was similar to other Mandarin language entertainment channels like Star Chinese Channel in Taiwan and Phoenix Chinese Channel.
Disney Channel is a former pan-Asian pay television kids channel owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia.
Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada include:
In the United States, sports are televised on various broadcast networks, national and specialty sports cable channels, and regional sports networks. U.S. sports rights are estimated to be worth a total of $22.42 billion in 2019, about 44 percent of the total worldwide sports media market. U.S. networks are willing to pay a significant amount of money for television sports contracts because it attracts large amounts of viewership; live sport broadcasts accounted for 44 of the 50 list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States in 2016.
Allied Pacific Sports Network ("APSN") was one of the earliest over-the-top content OTT companies in Asia. Founded in 2009, APSN was the first provider of multiple live streamed sports in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. APSN ceased operations in 2012. In 2011, APSN streamed more than 5,000 hour of live sports. These sports included Major League Baseball, the Premier League, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and the National Hockey League. APSN was based in Beijing, China and Hong Kong and operated Major League Baseball websites throughout Asia under and exclusive license from Major League Baseball Advanced Media LLC and the Premier League, Bundesliga and National Hockey League websites throughout various countries in Asia as well as APSN.TV.
Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), formerly Tiger Gate Entertainment, is a diversified media company based in Hong Kong that operates pay television entertainment channels in Asia and oversees Lionsgate distribution rights in Greater China and Southeast Asia. It is a joint venture co-owned by Saban Capital Group, Lionsgate and Celestial Pictures.
Setanta Sports Philippines Limited is a pay television sports channel and over-the-top streaming service operating in the Philippines owned by Eurasian Broadcasting Enterprise Ltd.
NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others. Assets currently include among others Golf Channel and NBC Sports Regional Networks.
Fox Sports Asia was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Star Sports available in Mainland China and South Korea. Originally launched in early 1990s as Star Sports and ESPN by Satellite Television Asian Region and ESPN International respectively, both parties agreed to combine their operations in Asia in October 1996. News Corporation took the full control of the venture in 2012, and relaunched the channels in two phases in January 2013 and August 2014, respectively.
When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, all major professional and collegiate organizations responded by suspending operations indefinitely. This effect was passed down to the world of sports broadcasting, which includes live coverage of thousands of events on an annual basis through stations and network available over the air, through cable, satellite, and IPTV companies, and via streaming and over-the-top services.
