ESPN, Disney’s stronghold of changing Mickey Mouse to global sports

In recent decades, Espn has become one of the largest branches of Disney’s business. The sports channel platform acquired by the company in 1996 by 19 billion dollarsIt culminated in the entry of the audiovisual giant in sports.

The Walt Disney Company, born in 1923 to produce animated comedy short films, In the 1990s he had sub-divisions in television, parks, media and 73% of National Geographic.. Along the way, there were masterpieces of entertainment such as The lady and the tramp (1955), 101 dalmatians (1961) or snow white (1937).

Meanwhile, ESPN was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen and Scott Rasmussen, which led to a huge generation Doubts about the economic viability of a channel dedicated exclusively to sports, something unprecedented so far. When beer brand Anheuser-Busch paid €1 million to become a sponsor. Not only was a television giant born, but a new business idea was also born.

ESPN was born in 1979, at a time when there were no television channels dedicated exclusively to sports

Since then, the company based in Bristol (Connecticut, USA) has increased its offensive to grab the sports cake, even reaching Broadcasting in more than 200 countries It has regional channels with its own programming in Australia, Latin America, the Netherlands, Canada and the UK.

As the years go by, Espn has been adding new channels to its show. In 1993 Espn2 came to light, dedicated to a young audience; In 1996 appeared ESPN News, which broadcasts sports news; In 1998 ESPN Classic was born with the aim of producing documentaries and classic events; In 2004 ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language channel, appeared, and finally in 2005 Disney launched itself to conquer college sports with the advent of ESPN.

Additionally, the company has had a presence on the airwaves since 1992, when it launched Espn Radio, and on the Internet, since it launched its website in 1993. In 2018, the company continued Diversified its way of providing content and launched a service flow over the top (extra time)which supplemented the television channels under the name Espn +.

The company broadcasts its content in more than 200 countries and in four languages

Nowadays, Disney owns 80% of ESPN’s capital, while telecom giant Hearst Communications owns the remaining 20%.. The channel group has been led by Jon Skipper since 2012, and he is also the Vice President of Disney Media.

Since its inception, the operator Become strong in sports with the rights to major American competitions. Espn has broadcast the National Football League (NFL) since 1987, Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1990, the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2002 or the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 2004 and from 2021 to the present.

It also has the rights to Major League Soccer (MLS), Champions League, La Liga, Bundesliga, FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon, US Open, PGA Tour, La Vuelta or Club Association . ).

After Covid-19, Espn has developed a $38,000 million investment plan in audiovisual rights

After the company’s revenue fell 19% in the year of Covid-19, Disney laid out a plan to spend $ 38 billion on media rights. As part of the plan, The giant took over the rights to Spanish football in the US until the 2028-2029 season for $1,400 million and with an eight-year MLB reconversion for $5,600 million. Finally, the company bankrupted the bank’s announcement A ten-year deal with the National Football League (NFL) for $27 billion.

Some of ESPN’s investments also went into the American college sports monopoly.. In 2021, the network reached an agreement with Sec Football, the competition that organizes American college sports, for ten seasons for $3 billion, while it paid $5250 million for college basketball for ten years. Moreover, on its platform flow Disney +, launched in 2019, the company has produced several documentaries dedicated to sports, such as galaxies (2021) or Man in the Ring: Tom Brady (2021).

In 2021, ESPN entered $4,000 million, registering the company’s billing registry. Despite this, the company lost eight million subscribers, and 75 million users remain, due to the high subscription prices.