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ESPN Australia

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ESPN
CountryAustralia
Broadcast areaOceania
NetworkESPN
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format576i(SDTV)
720p(HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerESPN Australia Pty Ltd.
(ESPN Inc.) (Branding licensed fromDisney Branded Television)
History
Launched19 September 1995 (Optus TV)
April 1999 (Austar)
September 2002 (Foxtel)
Former namesSports ESPN
Links
Websiteespn.au
Availability
Streaming media
Foxtel GoChannel 509
Channel 510 (ESPN2)
Fetch MobiChannel 150
Channel 151 (ESPN2)
Kayo SportsNo fixed channel
Sky Sport NowNo fixed channel

ESPN Australiais the Australian division ofESPN,part of theESPN Internationalgrouping. It is offered inAustralia,New Zealand,Papua New Guineaand thePacific Islands.

Since 2023,it has been the only Disney-owned network in Oceania along withBaby TVto broadcast as alinear televisionchannel, with theDisney ChannelandDisney Junioras well asNat Geo WildandNational Geographicall having been shut down in favour of the streaming serviceDisney+.

History

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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 Cupqualifying games andMajor League Soccer.Also on the network schedule arerugbymatches, 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 49ersin theNational Football Leagueon 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 XLVIIIin 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]

Content

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ESPN Australia has made locally-produced content, including Australian versions ofPTIandSportsCenter.They also air a soccer discussion show Monday to Friday calledESPNsoccernet PressPasswhich 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]

American Football

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Baseball

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Basketball

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Horse Racing

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Ice Hockey

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Mixed martial arts

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  • UFC(Fight Night and PPV preliminaries)

Multi-Sport Events

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Poker

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Professional wrestling

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Soccer

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Other programming

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News and talk shows

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ESPN HD

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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 launched in New Zealand onSky.[6]

ESPN 3D

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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 3Dlaunched 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".

See also

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References

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  1. ^Joyce, James (26 March 1999)."Friday Guide / Tunedin".Newcastle Herald.p. 6.Retrieved3 May2010.
  2. ^Schulze, Jane (2 September 2002). "Seven prepares for spat over sport".The Australian.p. 32.
  3. ^"Jarryd Hayne's debut for San Francisco 49ers helps swell ESPN audience to record levels".Mumbrella.16 September 2015.Retrieved16 September2015.
  4. ^"Fetch".Facebook.14 February 2017.Retrieved30 June2024.
  5. ^"espn.au"(PDF).ESPN. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 25 March 2012.Retrieved21 December2011.
  6. ^Duffy, Louise."ESPN launches ESPN HD and ESPN3 in NZ".Rapid News TV.Retrieved2 June2011.
  7. ^Laughlin, Andrew."ESPN to run 3D broadcast in Australia".Digital Spy.Retrieved30 July2010.
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