ESPN2 is an American
sports cable television network owned by
ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.
Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like
motocross,
snowboarding, and
BMX racing. This mandate was phased out by the late 1990s, as the channel increasingly served as a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. ESPN2 is carried in 89 million homes in the United States, eleven million fewer than
ESPN.