Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross, snowboarding, and BMX racing. This mandate was phased out by the late 1990s, as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. ESPN2 is carried in 89 million homes in the United States, eleven million fewer than ESPN.

History

ESPN2's initial programming was aimed towards younger viewers, and as such primarily focused on alternative events, including extreme sports, alongside being an additional outlet for sports ESPN also covered at the time. ESPN2 telecasts were more informal than their counterparts; commentators did not wear ties, and individual sports were promoted with additional taglines (such as "Hell on Wheels" for NASCAR, and "Fire on Ice" for NHL hockey). ESPN2 also had an "edgier" look on-air, its original logo featured a graffiti styled numeral "2" and did not resemble ESPN's logo at all, and on-screen graphics would also often use an edgier font with inconsistent letter casing.

ESPN2 would also be used for several experimental telecasts during its early years. On September 18, 1994, ESPN covered the CART Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix, and ESPN2 featured a live simulcast using only onboard camera feeds. In 1995, ESPN2 debuted a sports news ticker, dubbed the "BottomLine," a persistent ticker which stayed at the bottom of the screen at all times during most programming, unlike ESPN, who only shows their own at the :28 and :58 of each hour(accompanied by an audio cue) and during select programming. ESPN2's sports telecasts were also among the first to regularly use a scoring bug.

ESPN2 also featured several half-hour news programs focused on specific sports, such as NFL 2Night (football), NHL 2Night (hockey), and RPM 2Night (auto racing).

In the late 1990s, ESPN2 would to phase out its youth-oriented format and begin to serve as a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream programming. The "graffiti 2" logo was dropped in 2001 and replaced with a variant of ESPN's normal logo, and telecasts began to use a more traditional style. However, on-screen graphics (such as the BottomLine) would use a blue color scheme instead of ESPN's red. On February 12, 2007, the use of ESPN2 branding would also be reducedall graphics and elements would begin to use the ESPN logo instead, and the ESPN2 brand would be retained only for identification between the two channels, such as in the BottomLine.

Programming

Most of ESPN's soccer output is broadcast on ESPN2. This includes Major League Soccer, all Barclays Premier League games that are broadcast on ESPN UK, two dozen La Liga matches, and the United States' 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the UEFA Champions League, until rights for that tournament moved to Fox Soccer Channel and its sister stations.

ESPN2's former flagship show, the morning sports/entertainment program Cold Pizza, achieved minimal success and saw several format and host changes. In January 2006, it was supplanted by the TV simulcast of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning (which moved from ESPNews) and moved to a later time slot (10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST). In May 2007, Cold Pizza moved from New York City to the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, and was renamed ESPN First Take. After ESPN became part of a new broadcast contract with the association, ESPN2 also premiered the new daily show NASCAR Now (similar to the previous RPM 2Night, except only focusing on NASCAR) in February 2007.

In 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting Major League Lacrosse games. In March 2007, both agreed on a contract that will run until the 2016 season.

Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, a program that featured interviews with popular sports figures, had averaged extremely low ratings, and had also faced several time slot changes, until it was finally canceled in January 2007.

High definition

In January 2011, the separate ESPN2HD branding began to be phased out, as in May 2011, the channel would shift to using the widescreen format on both its high definition and standard definition feeds (through letterboxing).

Simulcasting

ESPN2 also simulcasts some ESPNews programming, often during local blackouts, and for a while provided a Sunday simulcast of ESPN Deportes' SportsCenter. In return, ESPN2 is often seen on ESPN during local blackouts.

ESPN2 also often carries SportsCenter on days where the regular ESPN broadcast is overrun by a longer than expected sporting event. ESPN and ESPN2 also jointly aired 2 episodes of a documentary special called This is SportsCenter, where ESPN showed a documentary showing the production of a SportsCenter episode, while the finished product aired on ESPN2.

Both ESPN and ESPN2 carried ABC News coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

ESPN2 also aired the men's basketball SEC Championship Game in 2008 to most of the nation, since a storm damaged the initial site of the tournament, causing the schedule to be rearranged in conflict with CBS's coverage of the Big Ten Championship Game. The game was produced by CBS. In SEC territory, the Big Ten game appeared on ESPN2.

External links

References

* Category:ESPN media outlets Category:Television channels and stations established in 1993 Category:English-language television stations in the United States Category:Walt Disney Company subsidiaries Category:Sports television networks in the United States