 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Turner Broadcasting System |
| Sister channels | CNN CNN Headline News TNT TBS Superstation Turner South Turner Classic Movies Cartoon Network Boomerang CNNfn |
| History | |
| Launched | December 12, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-12-12) |
| Closed | May 15, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-05-15) |
| Replaced by | NBA TV (on many cable systems) |
CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports newsnetwork. Created whenTime Warner merged itsCNN andSports Illustrated brands, it launched on December 12, 1996.[1]
Other news networks like ESPNews provided 30-minute blocks of news and highlights in a similar fashion toCNN Headline News at the time, but CNN/SI was live daily from 7am to 2am.[2] Its purpose was to provide the most comprehensive sports news service on television, bringing in-depth sports news from around the world, and integrating the internet and television.[3]
CNN/SI's closure had been attributed to competition with other all-sports news networks and sports newscasts which started around the same time, such asESPNews andFox Sports Net'sNational Sports Report. Though CNN/SI aired exclusive content, such as the tape of formerIndiana University coachBob Knight choking playerNeil Reed, the channel reached only 20 million homes, not adequate enough to receive a rating byNielsen Media Research, which reduced sponsorship. ESPNews, in contrast, benefited from being bundled withESPN (86.5 million homes). The news channel parent CNN did not have the same influence with cable operators for its all-sports news channel. CNN's cancellation of their flagship sports program,Sports Tonight (which had already been retooled to compete withSportsCenter) after theSeptember 11 attacks contributed to the closure of CNN/SI, as it lost all connections to their mother network.[4]
Near its closure,Sports Tonight was exclusive to CNN/SI. CNN/SI addedNASCAR qualifying,[5]Wimbledon matches,[6]National Lacrosse League matches,[7] and televised the now-defunctWomen's United Soccer Association[8]
CNN/SI shut down on May 15, 2002.[9][10] On many cable systems, CNN/SI was replaced byNBA TV. NBA TV, which launched in1999, eventually evolved into a joint venture between Time Warner and the NBA that officially launched on October 28, 2008.
Following the network's closure, its international sports programWorld Sport continues to air, and since 2002 has been produced byCNN International.[11]
CNN itself would not produce another regular sportscast until 2024, when a new CNN-produced newscast,TNT Sports Tonight, debuted onTruTV as part of a plan to increase sports programming on that network.[12]
The CNN/SI name was maintained forSports Illustrated's online presence at cnnsi.com. In January 2013, CNN acquiredBleacher Report and after Time Warner's spin-off of their publishing assets intoTime Inc. (and subsequently sale toMeredith Corporation and later, toIAC'sDotdash), they dropped all use of theSports Illustrated name.[13]
CNN/SI will not rely on a "wheel" of repeating news segments and highlights. Rather, it promises a nineteen-hour "stream" of news reported fresh throughout the day, starting from 7 AM.
| Broadcasting and FAST streaming group |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cartoon Network, Inc. |
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| Entertainment Group | |||||
| Lifestyle & Factual Group |
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| Defunct and former ventures |
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