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Disney is planning to shut down its ESPN Classic channel on Jan. 1, 2022, according to the Sports Business Journal‘s John Ourand.
Per the SBJ, ESPN has been deemphasizing the channel for much of the past decade and has been allowing various cable distributors to drop the channel to try and make room for others like the SEC Network or ACC Network.
ESPN Classic will join NBCSN as the second all-sports television channel that will go dark at the end of this year, per the SBJ.
The channel was originally launched as the Classic Sports Network in 1995 and was acquired by ESPN. Over the years it became beloved by fans for carrying classic past sporting events or documentaries.
“It was an amazing team effort from a bunch of people who had no idea what we were doing!” Channel Sports Network founder Brian Bedol tweeted. “It was a great time in all of our careers, and a testament to how the industry has changed. Ultimately, Classic paved the way for the non-ESPN league-owned sports networks. Long live Classic.”
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