ESPN’s Corporate Ownership
| 1978 | ||
| Jun 17 | Corporate title of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network adopted (full name no longer exists) |
|
| 1979 | ||
| Feb 22 | Getty Oil agrees in principle to purchase 85% of ESPN | |
| 1981 | ||
| Sep 23 | Getty and ABC Video, a wholly owned subsidiary of ABC, Inc, announce letter of intent for pay sports venture involving ESPN
Deal involves supplementary coverage by ESPN of various events from ABC and an option for ABC to acquire 10% of ESPN |
|
| 1984 | ||
| Jan 2 | ABC purchases 15% of ESPN from Getty | |
| Jan 8 | Texaco merges with Getty Oil | |
| Apr 30 | ABC Video announces agreement to acquire remaining 85% of ESPN from Texaco | |
| Sep 11 | ABC Video sells 20% interest in ESPN to Nabisco Brands | |
| 1986 | ||
| Jan 3 | Capital Cities finalizes purchase of ABC, Inc (announced March 18, 1985) |
|
| 1990 | ||
| Nov 8 | The Hearst Corporation purchases Nabisco’s 20% share in ESPN | |
| 1996 | ||
| Feb 9 | FCC approves merger of Capital Cities/ABC and The Walt Disney Company (announced July 31, 1995) |