The media or news industry has undergone a massive makeover over the past several years. From stiff collared news readers and reporters to blue and boring sets, to repetitive show formats all have seen a tremendous amount of change. Together with the formats the complete physical appearance of shows has undergone makeovers. As older and much more established media networks have revamped their look, there are a variety of brand new channels or news sites which have sprouted to meet the needs of the constant requirement for news, be it in the area of current affairs, news, entertainment or physical activities such as sports.
Sports networks have emerged as one of the most significant segments from the media industry. Sports enthusiasts from all around the globe are searching for a daily feed of information and news in connection with the number of sports which are being played around the world. Sports, too, as being 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 including baseball, football, basketball, rugby etc which are popular but unconventional sports as action sports such as surfing, skateboarding, rock and mountain climbing, bungee jumping, sky diving etc have also found their group of followers. There are a number of people that 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 one of the offshoots of this media change. 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 opportunity to play their favorite games which are modeled on the lines of professional sports such as football, baseball, basketball, cricket etc. These games have global championships that happen to be played mirroring the game pattern which the sport is based on.
So like MLB baseball has 162 games being played in one season, fantasy baseball too has 162 games that shall be played during the MLB season. Two media networks which are currently extremely popular in the fantasy games circuit are ESPN and Yahoo Sports. These two networks provide all the news, games statistics, scores and player along with team standings. ESPN network even comes up with a fantasy sports newsletter that covers all 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 that 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 every year; one during summer and one during winter covering the summer and winter sports categories respectively. The participants vie for the gold, silver and bronze medals along with the prize money award. ESPN has been the live broadcaster of such games and can be considered as pioneers on this genre of sports broadcasting.
