ESPN Announces Plans to Launch All-Sports News Channel Nov. 1
ESPN, rumored for more than a year to be planning a 24-hour all-sports news channel, announced Monday plans to launch it Nov. 1.
The channel, ESPNEWS, is not to be confused with ESPN3, another proposed project.
“We have other plans for ESPN3, but we’re not talking about that today,” Steve Bornstein, ESPN president, said.
Programming and other details about ESPNEWS will be announced this summer, he said.
In February, CNN and Sports Illustrated announced collaboration on a similar project, CNN-SI, which is expected to begin programming in December.
In reaction to the ESPN announcement, CNN senior vice president Jim Walton said, “Sports Illustrated and CNN have not only faced competition in the past, but we have both thrived on it.”
Both new networks will compete with NewSport, a joint operation of Rainbow Programming Holdings, Liberty Sports and NBC Cable Holdings, currently available in about nine million homes. NewSport was launched Feb. 1, 1994, and is mainly seen on DirecTV in Southern California.
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