Editing ESPN (section)

===Background and Launch===
[[File:ESPN HQ.jpg|thumb|Headquarters in [[Bristol, Connecticut]]]]

[[Bill Rasmussen]] came up with the concept of ESPN in May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the [[World Hockey Association]]'s [[Hartford Whalers|New England Whalers]]. Rasmussen and his ESPN co-founder Ed Eagan, joined by Rasmussen's son [[Scott Rasmussen|Scott]] (who had also been let go by the Whalers), first rented office space in [[Plainville, Connecticut]]. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because of a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop [[satellite dish]]es. Available land to build their own facility on was quickly found in [[Bristol, Connecticut]] (where the channel remains headquartered to this day), with funding to buy the property provided by [[Getty Oil]], which purchased 85% of the company from Bill Rasmussen on February 22, 1979, in an attempt to diversify the company's holdings. This helped the credibility of the fledgling company; however, there were still many doubters about the viability of their sports channel concept. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement with [[Anheuser-Busch]] in the spring of 1979; the company invested $1 million to be the "exclusive beer advertised on the network".<ref name="A">{{cite news|last=Kleinfield|first=N.R.|title=ABC To Acquire ESPN As Texaco Sells Its 72%|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/business/abc-to-acquire-espn-as-texaco-sells-its-72.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 1, 1984|access-date=August 30, 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=March 9, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309204147/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/business/abc-to-acquire-espn-as-texaco-sells-its-72.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Potts|first=Mark|title=ABC to Buy Texaco's ESPN Cable Channel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1984/05/01/abc-to-buy-texacos-espn-cable-channel/6e5a4aeb-8885-4b64-88dd-4a3924e5cd6e/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=May 1, 1984|access-date=August 30, 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=September 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215449/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1984/05/01/abc-to-buy-texacos-espn-cable-channel/6e5a4aeb-8885-4b64-88dd-4a3924e5cd6e/}}</ref>

[[File:ESPN's Old Logo.png|thumb|ESPN's first logo, used from 1979 to 1985]]
ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program, ''[[SportsCenter]]''. Taped in front of a small live audience inside the Bristol studios, it was broadcast to 1.4 million cable subscribers throughout the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-19-sp-1301-story.html|title=Dishing It Out : ESPN, the Little Network That Could, Finds There's 24-Hour Sports Audience|date=April 19, 1988 |author=Larry Stewart|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>  One month after launch, [[Chris Berman]] joined the network; he would continue to be an on-air fixture for decades.