ESPN, owned by the Walt Disney Co, has a large, diverse audience for its sports content. It was founded in 1979 as the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, but its focus is now on sports fans worldwide across all media platforms. In addition to its flagship cable channel, ESPN reaches its audience through a print magazine, a sports website, a sports radio network and a variety of cable channels. It operates ESPN Deportes, a Spanish-language TV channel, radio station and website.
There’s clearly a lot of technology involved in getting all that information out. Carol Pandiscia, senior VP of ESPN’s technology project management and business ops division, says much of the technology used at the company is unique in the industry.
“Within the traditional infrastructure of IT functions, ESPN does all its software development and all its product development. Products are the broadcast applications you see running in sports programming,” she explains.
“Technologies are merging,” adds Bill Lamb, VP of systems engineering and technology support. “The underlying technologies in broadcasts and the underlying technologies in IT are becoming more similar every day.”
ESPN covers every aspect of sports. But, says Lamb, “Something has to happen to make all that good stuff get on the air.”
“We are very technology driven and are looking for folks who have that background to come work here,” says Pandiscia. She makes it clear that it’s not essential to be a rabid sports fan to handle ESPN technology, although the working day is probably more interesting for those who are.
There’s a large telecom side to ESPN that includes both outbound signals and receiving and distributing the thousands of feeds used for highlights on the network shows. The R&D side of ESPN looks at everything from new TV standards to new ways of editing sports video.
When hiring, ESPN looks at candidates with expertise in a wide range of technologies, from designing TV facilities to working with high-speed fiber networks. Top skills are necessary because there are no retakes in sports programming. The instant-playback feature is only for viewers and umpires.
“That swing at that pitch only happens once. We have to find people who understand the criticality of what we do,” says Lamb.
ESPN’s technical division has been fine-tuning its recruiting strategies and working closely with its diversity office, trying to build a workforce to match its diverse audience. “Lots of diversity issues hit sports,” says Lorie Valle-Yanez, ESPN’s director of diversity. “If we really focus on diversity and inclusion inside our company, we can be better equipped and more authentic when we’re out there covering sports.”
ESPN launched a revised diversity strategy five years ago. The company had already been recognized for putting diversity in front of the camera with minority and women anchors and reporters. Today the definition of diversity has expanded and become much more global. It is as much about diversity of thought and perspective as it is about gender, ethnicity, culture or sexual orientation, Valle-Yanez explains. The focus is on recruitment, retention and developing diverse leadership.
“We have a company-wide mentoring program,” says Valle-Yanez. “It’s not just focused on women and people of color, but it is absolutely focused on diversity. Our president and all his direct reports are mentors and have been since day one.”
Besides the nine-month mentoring program, ESPN participates with the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT). Some ESPN folks are sent to leadership training programs at those organizations.
“We are also a supporter of the Walter Kaitz Foundation,” which works to diversify the cable industry, continues Valle-Yanez. “In fact, in July 2007 we received the foundation’s Diversity Champion award.
“We continue to find ways to invest in our employees. We had a women’s leadership breakfast last March, and we’re going to expand the idea into a women’s leadership conference.”
ESPN recently organized a dedicated diversity council. “It’s all about teamwork at ESPN, so everything we do about diversity works much better if we have everybody on board,” says Valle-Yanez. “The diversity council gets leaders across the company together to look at what we need to do to take diversity to the next level.”
Valle-Yanez adds that, as a Disney-owned company, ESPN participates in its parent company’s supplier diversity outreach and offers domestic partner benefits. “We also collaborate with initiatives for athletes with disabilities, a center to study society in sports, and women’s sports organizations.”
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www.espn.com
| Headquarters: |
Bristol, CT |
| Employees: |
approximately 5,000 |
| Business: |
Multi-platform sports
programming |
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