BottomLine is
ESPN's lower third
In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests.
In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text ...
sports information
ticker. It is uniform in design and used on all ESPN networks. It displays current sports scores, stats, and headlines in a 'push-then-scroll' format. It also serves as a display for urgent information, such as breaking sports news, breaking significant national news from ESPN sister network
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, updated scores, a
rain delay
Rainout, washout, rain delay, and rain stopped play are terms regarding an outdoor event, generally a sporting event, delayed or canceled due to rain, or the threat of rain. It is not to be confused with a type of out in baseball, though a basebal ...
notification, or the move of a game from one ESPN network to another. BottomLine is also used on the
TSN channels in Canada and on the Brazilian
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
channels.
On special occasions, a customized version of the ticker may be used; some examples are
Pi day
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the ''month/day'' format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of . It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an e ...
, in which a Pi symbol is placed next to the ESPN logo, and the
4th of July, when an
American flag
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...
surrounds the ESPN logo.
History
''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...
'' debuted a new graphics package on April 6, 2009, with the "rundown" graphic (shown during the daytime editions) moved to the left side of the screen. A new BottomLine was also released that day on ESPN,
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
, ESPN Classic, and
ESPNU
ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...
but it was quickly removed and reverted to the old BottomLine (which had been used since April 2003) because of major technical difficulties. The new BottomLine was functional during coverage of the
2009 NFL Draft
The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...
and the 2009 NBA Draft, but the issues were fixed and the it eventually returned on July 8 of the same year. Yet another redesigned BottomLine was launched at 11 PM ET on June 22, 2014, to coincide with a dramatic redesign of the SportsCenter studio.
On August 20, 2018, a refreshed BottomLine launched. The BottomLine switched to a "flipper" format, used two lines of text, and no longer showed the logos of teams during score updates. In addition, the rightmost third of the BottomLine was now used for promoting events on the channel, the
ESPN+
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
subscription service, or giving information on delays or breaking news events.
Variants
ESPN 2
In 1995, ESPN2 debuted a sports news ticker, dubbed by Production Assistant Onnie Bose as the "BottomLine Update." It is a persistent ticker which stayed at the bottom of the screen at all times during most programming, unlike ESPN, who only showed their own at the :18 (formerly :28) and :58 of each hour (accompanied by an audio cue, which has since been adapted as the alert tone for ESPN's mobile apps) and during select programming. The introductory audio cue was removed when the BottomLine graphics were updated in 2009. ESPN2's sports telecasts were also among the first to regularly use a scoring bug. In later years, ESPN2 would also participate in "Full Circle" telecasts, productions of a single game aired across multiple ESPN services to provide additional features and angles.
ESPNEWS
ESPNEWS's "bottom line" — a small rectangular area at the bottom one-fifth of the screen flashing scores—is more in-depth than the one airing on ESPN's other networks. It contains not only scores but also statistics and brief news alerts about the day's happenings in sports. It also remains on screen during most commercial breaks. This particular BottomLine was re-designed as the network was re-launched on March 30, 2008. The change from a big BottomLine to the ESPN-shaped BottomLine, the decrease of ESPNEWS programming, and SportsCenter being shown on ESPNEWS has had some controversy among longtime ESPNEWS viewers. The network was changed over to a full-screen presentation in June 2010 with the network receiving the BottomLine used on all other ESPN networks in anticipation of the network's
primetime
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
programming being rebranded under the SportsCenter branding.
ESPN on ABC
For most of its history, ABC's BottomLine ticker used the same design as ESPN's with the only exceptions being formatted to the 4:3 aspect ratio, the ABC logo being located on top of the ticker rather than being docked on the ticker itself, and promotions for ABC network programs included. Beginning with the
2016 Little League World Series, ABC's BottomLine ticker was switched to 16:9 ratio used by the other ESPN networks as ABC later switched its programming to a 16:9 format the following month. During NBA broadcasts, the logo is moved to the far right corner of the screen to accommodate the expanded score bar intro in 2016. During
X Games
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...
broadcasts, an X Games logo with the ABC logo over it is used in place of the normal ABC logo. This version is removed during commercial breaks, as the ads run on full screen.
TSN
The BottomLine ticker is identical to the ESPN's design. When TSN debuted the new BottomLine ticker as ESPN, differences on the right side include advertising of
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
's other properties such as
Crave and
CTV 2
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cab ...
.
''Cold Pizza''
''
Cold Pizza
''Cold Pizza'' is an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to '' Good Morning America'' than '' SportsCenter''s straight news and highlights format. It included ...
'' was notable for having its own version of ESPN's BottomLine, as their ticker not only gave sports scores but also news headlines and weather forecasts from sports cities and is shown in its own color scheme. It also functioned differently: it constantly scrolled, while other ESPN "BottomLines" usually "flip" through the different scores, scrolling only for long statistical lines (until August 20, 2018, when the bottomline was updated to flip even through long statistical lines, as a result of the bottomline now being two lines rather than one). This graphic was discontinued in the summer of 2006 when the "BottomLine" was changed to resemble those of other ESPN programs.
College Football Playoff Megacast
The Playoff
Megacasts for 2017 introduced a new statistical ticker, which shows info about the current drive, and stats about plays made. Unlike the others, it just fades out stats, instead of flipping.
For the 2018 semifinals, a newly redesigned version of the statistical ticker was unveiled.
Defunct Windows PC Ticker
From the
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The second operating system in the 9x line, it is the successor to Windows 95, and was released to ...
era to the middle of the
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
era, a BottomLine ticker application using
Macromedia Shockwave
Adobe Shockwave (formerly Macromedia Shockwave and MacroMind Shockwave) is a discontinued multimedia platform for building interactive multimedia applications and video games. Developers originate content using Adobe Director and publish it on ...
technology was available for personal use on a Windows
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
(and was embeddedable with credit as a part of
personal website
Personal web pages are World Wide Web pages created by an individual to contain content of a personal nature rather than content pertaining to a company, organization or institution. Personal web pages are primarily used for informative or enter ...
s). Its last update (version 2.1) was in August 2004.
References
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{{ESPN
ESPN