Who owns ESPN?
ESPN is owned by Disney (the United States, NYSE: DIS).[1]
Evidence: The Walt Disney Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-11-13, SEC EDGAR, 13 November 2025. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- The Walt Disney Company verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Burbank, California
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, Bristol, Connecticut
- Founded
- 1979
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Film & television › Television networks
- Parent ticker
- NYSE: DIS
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About ESPN
ESPN launched in 1979 from a Connecticut car park and became the most valuable channel in American cable, charging distributors far more per subscriber than any other. Cord-cutting has eroded that model, and Disney has moved it towards direct streaming.
What Disney's annual report says about ESPN
Sentences about ESPN from Disney's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Subscribers to both Disney+ and one of the ESPN DTC plans (see Sports segment discussion) have access to certain sports content through Disney+.
Subscribers to both Hulu and one of the ESPN DTC plans have access to certain sports content through Hulu.
Additionally, subscribers to Disney+ have access to certain sports content through an ESPN branded tile on Disney+.
How often Disney names ESPN in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of ESPN
Where ESPN sits in Disney
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Disney ownership tree →
See the full Disney brand portfolio (13) →
Other brands owned by Disney
Disney controls 13 brands on Brandtree, 10 of them in media & entertainment.
Also in media & entertainment
- 20th Century Studios (1935)
- ABC (1943)
- Disney (1923)
- Disney Parks (1955)
- Lucasfilm (1971)
- Marvel (1939)
- National Geographic (1888)
- Pixar (1986)
- Searchlight Pictures (1994)
Other brands in television networks, and who owns them
The 87 brands in television networks on Brandtree belong to 28 owners. The largest is Sun TV Network, with 7; Disney has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini TV | Sun TV Network | 🇮🇳 India |
| Global Television | Corus | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| BET | Paramount Skydance | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bounce (Scripps network) | Scripps | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Cartoon Network | Warner Bros. Discovery | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Canal+ | Canal+ | 🇫🇷 France |
| AMC | AMC Networks | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Astro | Astro | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
About the owner: Disney
Disney is a publicly listed company headquartered in Burbank, California, United States, founded in 1923. Brandtree records 13 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: DIS.
Disney was founded in 1923 by two brothers making short cartoons and is now the largest entertainment company in the world. Its purchases of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and most of 21st Century Fox mean a substantial share of the highest-grossing films ever made belong to one owner.
🇺🇸 ESPN and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; ESPN is not one of them.
- AMC — AMC Networks 🇺🇸
- AMC Theatres — AMC Theatres 🇺🇸
- AMF — Lucky Strike Entertainment 🇺🇸
- Adventure Island — United Parks 🇺🇸
- Antenna TV — Nexstar 🇺🇸
- Atlanta Braves — Atlanta Braves Holdings 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of ESPN?
The parent company of ESPN is Disney, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is ESPN American?
Yes. ESPN originated in the United States in 1979 and its owner, Disney, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is ESPN still owned by Disney?
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, ESPN is still owned by Disney. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] The Walt Disney Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-11-13 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 13 November 2025; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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