ESPN2 is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hearst Corporation (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially formatted as a network for a younger generation of sports fans; by the late 1990s, this mandate was phased out as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage.
As of February 2015, ESPN2 is available to approximately 94,379,000 pay television households (81.1% of households with at least one television set) in the United States
