When ESPN started in 1979, we were the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (hence the name ESPN). However, that name took too long to paint across our chests on game day, so we dropped it in 1985 and adopted a new corporate name -- ESPN, LLC.-- and a new logo.
ESPN, LLC is 72 percent owned by The Walt Disney Company, 18 percent by Hearst, and 10 percent by the National Football League.