The media or news industry has undergone a huge makeover over the past few years. From stiff collared news readers and reporters to blue and boring sets, to repetitive show formats all have experienced an enormous amount of change. Together with the formats the complete physical aspect of shows has undergone makeovers. As older and more established media networks have revamped their look, there are a number of brand new channels or news sites that have sprouted to cater to the ceaseless requirement for news, whether it is in the area of current affairs, news, entertainment or physical activities such as sports.
Sports networks have emerged as among the most significant segments of the media industry. Sports enthusiasts coming from all around the globe are searching for a regular feed of news and information regarding the number of sports which are being played across the world. Sports, too, as a physical exercise has evolved and has gained a wider reach owing to the network of the media or news providers.
These days it is not just the traditional sports such as baseball, football, basketball, rugby etc that are popular but unconventional sports as action sports for instance surfing, skateboarding, rock and rock climbing, bungee jumping, sky diving etc have likewise found their fan base. There are a variety of people who practice and participate in these adrenalin pumping extreme sports, thus increasing its popularity and encouraging several media and news networks to come up and cover these events.
Fantasy sports, too, are some of the offshoots of this media change. Together with the internet becoming a popular source of entertainment, physical sports have already been translated into virtual games in the form of fantasy sports. Now, people have the ability to play their preferred games that are modeled around the lines of professional sports such as football, baseball, basketball, cricket etc. These games have global championships that are played mirroring the game pattern that the sport is founded on.
So like MLB baseball has 162 games being played in one season, fantasy baseball too has 162 games that will be played through the MLB season. Two media networks that have become extremely popular in the fantasy games circuit are ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Both of these networks provide all the news, games statistics, scores and player as well as team standings. ESPN network even comes up with a fantasy sports newsletter that covers all of the action from this sports world.
ESPN has also taken the initiative of making X Games popular. X Games are series major action sports championships which are organized and broadcast by ESPN. These games began in 1995 and also have gained its fan base since.
Due to the diversities in the games there are 2 championships held each year; one during summer the other during winter covering the summer and winter sports categories respectively. The participants vie for that gold, silver and bronze medals along with the prize money award. ESPN has been the live broadcaster of these games and can be considered as pioneers in this genre of sports broadcasting.