ESPN2

ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN, a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 72% stake), Hearst Communications (which owns 18%) and the National Football League (which owns 10%). ESPN2 was initially formatted as a younger-skewing counterpart to its parent network ESPN, with a focus on sports popular among young adult audiences (ranging from mainstream events to other unconventional sports), and carrying a more informal and youthful presentation than the main network. By the late 1990s, this mandate was phased out, as the channel increasingly became a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. As of December 2023, ESPN2 is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States—down from its 2011 peak of 100 million households.