 | |
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Oceania |
| Network | ESPN |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | ESPN Australia Pty Ltd. (ESPN Inc.)(Branding licensed fromDisney Branded Television) |
| History | |
| Launched | 19 September 1995; 30 years ago (1995-09-19) |
| Former names | Sports ESPN |
| Links | |
| Website | espn |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Foxtel Go | Channel 509 Channel 510 (ESPN2) |
| Fetch Mobi | Channel 150 Channel 151 (ESPN2) |
| Kayo Sports | No fixed channel |
| Sky Sport Now | No fixed channel |
| Disney+ | No fixed channel |
ESPN Australia is the Australian division ofESPN, part of theESPN International grouping. It is offered inAustralia,New Zealand,Papua New Guinea and thePacific Islands.
Since 2023,[update] it has been the only Disney-owned network in Oceania along withBaby TV to broadcast as alinear television channel, with theDisney Channel andDisney Junior as well asNat Geo Wild andNational Geographic all having been shut down in favour of the streaming serviceDisney+.
Initially, ESPN was known as Sports ESPN on the Optus Vision cable television system, and focused on sports aired by its home network in theUnited States, includingAmerican football,baseball, andbasketball. In order to expand its local reach, it has shown an increasing number of soccer games includingFA Cup,World Cup qualifying games andMajor League Soccer. Also on the network schedule arerugby matches, among other sports.
It became available on Austar in April 1999,[1] and Foxtel in September 2002.[2]
The broadcast ofJarryd Hayne's debut for theSan Francisco 49ers in theNational Football League on 15 September 2015 drew the network's highest ever audience with 116,000 viewers watching the game live, beating the previous audience record of 107,100 viewers forSuper Bowl XLVIII in 2014.[3]
On March 1, 2011, ESPN2 launched in Australia both in standard and high definition formats.
On 14 February 2017, ESPN was made available in HD for Fetch TV customers.[4]
On 26 March 2025, ESPN was added on ESPN hub on the streaming serviceDisney+.
ESPN Australia has made locally-produced content, including Australian versions ofPTI andSportsCenter. They also air a soccer discussion show Monday to Friday calledESPNsoccernet PressPass which is hosted byAndrew Orsatti.
The following is the list of sports programming shown on ESPN channels (with some being shown only on ESPN and not ESPN2, and vice versa).[5]
ESPN HD was one of the first five channels to be available in HD whenFoxtel 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 onSky.[6]
ESPN 3D launched in Australia on 30 July 2010. The channel launched to show 8 hours of the X Games 16 live in 3D.[7]Foxtel 3D launched on 1 November 2010 which shows all of ESPN 3D's content – with ESPN 3D no longer having its own channel. ESPN 3D was shut down on 30 September 2013, citing "limited viewer adoption of 3D services".
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Owners:Walt Disney Company (80%);Hearst Communications (20%) | |||||||||||||||||||
