The media or news industry has undergone a huge makeover during the last few 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 aspect of shows has undergone makeovers. As older and much more established media networks have revamped their look, there are a number of brand new channels or news sites that have sprouted to cater to the constant demand for news, be it in the field of current affairs, news, entertainment or physical activities such as sports.
Sports networks have emerged as one of the most important segments of the media industry. Sports enthusiasts from all over the world are looking for a regular feed of information and news in connection with the number of sports that are being played around the world. Sports, too, as a physical activity has evolved and has gained a wider reach owing to the network of the media or news providers.
These days it is not only 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 likewise found their fan base. There are a number of people who practice and take part 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. Together with the internet transforming into 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 are 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 that have become very popular in the fantasy games circuit are ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Both of these networks provide all of the news, games statistics, scores and player along with team standings. ESPN network even comes up with a fantasy sports newsletter that covers all of the action out of this sports world.
ESPN has also taken the initiative of getting X Games popular. X Games are series major action sports championships which are organized and broadcast by ESPN. These games began in 1995 and also have gained its fan base since.
Due to the diversities within the games there are 2 championships held each year; one during summer and one during winter covering the summer and winter sports categories respectively. The participants vie for that gold, silver and bronze medals along with the prize money award. ESPN continues to be the live broadcaster of these games and can be considered as pioneers on this genre of sports broadcasting.
