Country | United States |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Slogan | The 24-hour Sports Information Channel. |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Turner Broadcasting System |
Sister channels | CNN CNN Headline News TNT TBS Superstation Turner South Turner Classic Movies Cartoon Network Boomerang CNNfn |
History | |
Launched | December 12, 1996 |
Closed | May 15, 2002 |
Replaced by | NBA TV (on many cable systems) |
Availability | |
Satellite | |
DirecTV | 205 |
Dish Network | 148 |
CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. It was created by Time Warner, merging together its CNN and Sports Illustrated brands and related resources. It was launched on December 12, 1996.[1]
Other news networks like ESPNews, provided 30-minute blocks of news and highlights in a similar fashion to CNN Headline News at the time, but CNN/SI was live daily from 7am to 2am.[2] Their purpose was to provide the most comprehensive sports news service on television, bringing in-depth sports news from around the world, and integrating the Internet and television.[3]
CNN/SI's closure had been attributed to competition with other all-sports news networks which started around the same time, such as ESPNews and Fox Sports Net's National Sports Report. Though CNN/SI aired exclusive content, such as the tape of Indiana University player Neil Reed appearing to be choked by former coach Bob Knight, the channel reached 20 million homes, not adequate enough to receive a rating by Nielsen Media Research, which reduced sponsorship. ESPNews benefited from the advantage ESPN (86.5 million homes) had with cable operators. The news channel parent CNN didn't have the same influence with cable operators for its all-sports news channel. CNN's cancellation of their flagship sports program, Sports Tonight (which had already been retooled to compete with SportsCenter) after the September 11 attacks caused for the closure of CNN/SI, as it lost all connections to their mother network.[4]
Near its closure, Sports Tonight was exclusive to CNN/SI. CNN/SI added NASCAR qualifying,[5] Wimbledon matches,[6] National Lacrosse League matches,[7] and televised the now-defunct Women's United Soccer Association[8]
CNN/SI shut down on May 15, 2002.[9][10] On many cable systems, CNN/SI was replaced by NBA TV. NBA TV, which launched in 1999, eventually evolved into a joint venture between Time Warner and the NBA that officially launched on October 28, 2008.
While the network closed, its international sports program World Sport continues airing and since 2002 has been produced by CNN International.[11]
The CNN/SI name was maintained for Sports Illustrated's online presence, which was located at cnnsi.com. It has since been changed to just si.com. In January 2013, CNN acquired Bleacher Report and after Time Warner's disbandment of their publishing assets into Time Inc. (and subsequently sale to Meredith Corporation), they liquidated all partnerships with Sports Illustrated.[12]