''ESPN Sports Saturday'' was an American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

that was broadcast on the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

(ABC). Produced by sister cable sports network

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 ...

, it premiered on April 3, 2010. The two-hour program regularly aired on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...

between mid-January and late August (due to the network's college football coverage during the fall) to fill time on weeks when ABC did not air any afternoon sports programming. However, it has since become the ABC simulcast of the ESPN ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

'' specials that now air during the Saturday afternoon timeslot on ABC thus officially ending the anthology show. The program featured a hosting segment, originally by

Hannah Storm Hannah Lynn Storen Hicks (born June 13, 1962), known professionally as Hannah Storm, is an American television sports journalist, serving as the anchor of ESPN's '' SportsCenter'' Face to Face. She was also host of the '' NBA Countdown'' pregame ...

and later various anchors featured on ESPN's flagship program, ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

''. It was ultimately dropped in August 2015 due to a change in format thus officially making ''ESPN Sports Saturday'' obsolete (sans for its ''30 for 30'' airings). ESPN, which like ABC is owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

, has handled ABC's sports coverage since 2006 under the

ESPN on ABC ESPN on ABC (formerly known as ABC Sports from 1961 to 2006) is the branding used for sports event and documentary programming televised by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States. Officially, the broadcast network retains ...

umbrella, and ''ESPN Sports Saturday'' could be considered a descendant of ''

ABC's Wide World of Sports ''ABC's Wide World of Sports'' is an American sports anthology television program that aired on ABC from April 29, 1961 to January 3, 1998, primarily on Saturday afternoons. Hosted by Jim McKay, with a succession of co-hosts beginning in 1987, ...

''. Content on the series initially included "Winners Bracket", a segment consisting of highlights, as well as specials sourced from other ESPN documentary programs, including ''

Homecoming with Rick Reilly ''Homecoming with Rick Reilly'' is an American television show on the sports network ESPN. The show is hosted by ESPN personality Rick Reilly, and features interviews with popular American sports figures. Interview subjects *Josh Hamilton *Jerr ...

'', ''

'' and '' E:60''. Upon the show's return after the 2010 college football season, the "Winners Bracket" hour of the block was later replaced by a new weekly discussion series that showcased the best of the ESPN sports discussion shows including new exclusive content on the upcoming week's major sporting events. The program was eventually cancelled after 5 seasons in August 2015. This was because ABC gave back the Sunday afternoon schedule to its affiliates 4 months later. Also, with the rise of the Internet and 24/7 mobile applications and streaming services specializing in sports news have completely eliminated the need for a traditional anthology sports program airing on broadcast television (including ABC) during weekend afternoons. It also eliminated the need for a separate Sunday afternoon block on ABC which had seen a long decline until January 2016. It is now simply a simulcast of the ''30 for 30'' documentary series sourced from ESPN.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espn Sports Saturday American Broadcasting Company original programming ABC Sports 2010s American anthology television series Sports telecast series 2010 American television series debuts

See also

References