CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. Created when

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

merged its CNN and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' brands, it launched on December 12, 1996. Other news networks like ESPNews provided 30-minute blocks of news and highlights in a similar fashion to

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...

at the time, but CNN/SI was live daily from 7am to 2am. Its purpose was to provide the most comprehensive sports news service on television, bringing in-depth sports news from around the world, and integrating the internet and television.

Closure

CNN/SI's closure had been attributed to competition with other all-sports news networks and sports newscasts which started around the same time, such as

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News," stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hear ...

and

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

's '' National Sports Report''. Though CNN/SI aired exclusive content, such as the tape of former

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

coach

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...

choking player Neil Reed, the channel reached only 20 million homes, not adequate enough to receive a rating by

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, which reduced sponsorship. ESPNews, in contrast, benefited from being bundled with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

(86.5 million homes). The news channel parent CNN did not have the same influence with cable operators for its all-sports news channel. CNN's cancellation of their flagship sports program, '' Sports Tonight'' (which had already been retooled to compete with ''SportsCenter'') after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

contributed to the closure of CNN/SI, as it lost all connections to their mother network. Near its closure, ''Sports Tonight'' was exclusive to CNN/SI. CNN/SI added

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

qualifying,

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

matches,

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

matches, and televised the now-defunct

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

CNN/SI shut down on May 15, 2002. On many cable systems, CNN/SI was replaced by

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular se ...

. NBA TV, which launched in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, eventually evolved into a joint venture between Time Warner and the NBA that officially launched on October 28, 2008. Following the network's closure, its international sports program '' World Sport'' continues to air, and since 2002 has been produced by

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

. CNN itself would not produce another regular sportscast until 2024, when a new CNN-produced newscast, '' TNT Sports Tonight'', debuted on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

as part of a plan to increase sports programming on that network.

Website

The CNN/SI name was maintained for ''Sports Illustrated''s online presence at cnnsi.com. In January 2013, CNN acquired

Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...

and after Time Warner's spin-off of their publishing assets into Time Inc. (and subsequently sale to

Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...

and later, to IAC's

Dotdash Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

), they dropped all use of the ''Sports Illustrated'' name.

Programming

*'' Sports Tonight'' (1996–2001) hosted by various anchors *''NFL Preview'' hosted by Bob Lorenz with analysts Trev Alberts, Irving Fryar and Peter King *''College Football Preview'' hosted by Bob Lorenz with analyst Trev Alberts and Ivan Maisel *''This Week in the NBA'' hosted by Andre Aldridge and

Kevin Loughery Kevin Michael "Murph" Loughery (born March 28, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Loughery coached both Julius Erving and Michael Jordan, and gave Phil Jackson his first NBA coaching job. Early life Loughe ...

*''Sports Illustrated Golf Plus'' hosted by Bob Fiscella and Phil Jones *''World Sport'' hosted by various anchors *''Page One'' hosted by Laura Okmin *''NASCAR Plus'' hosted by Johnny Phelps *''Sports Illustrated - Cover to Cover'' *''Trev Alberts' Full Tilt'' *''The Sporting Life with Jim Huber''

References

External links

Sports Illustrated Homepage

CNNSi.com Domain Name Sells for $5,500
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cnn Sports Illustrated SI Sports Illustrated Sports television networks in the United States English-language television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1996 Defunct television networks in the United States TNT Sports (United States) Television channels and stations disestablished in 2002 *