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ESPN on the air to five million nationwide

By Larry Schwartz
Special to ESPN.com

Tuesday, September 4, 2001

Sept. 7, 1979 At 7 p.m., an RCA SATCOM I communications satellite 22,300 miles above the equator, south of Hawaii, receives a signal from an earth station transmitter in Bristol, Conn., and beams the message back to earth and into the homes of about five million cable television viewers across the United States. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) hits the air. Sportscasters George Grande and Lee Leonard introduce the network to viewers. Also present at the debut are Get ...

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