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Sport and the media are natural bedfellows

BRISTOL, jokes Chuck Pagano, lies in a “demilitarised zone”: halfway between Boston and New York, in territory shared by Red Sox and Yankee fans. Sport is a serious business there—pretty much the only business, in fact. The town of 61,000 people is home to ESPN, a company that has become synonymous with sports broadcasting. With little modesty but no little justification, it styles itself “the world leader in sports”.

ESPN began life in 1979, when American television was ruled by three networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. “Cable television wasn’t even cable television,” says Mr Pagano, ESPN’s head of technology and one of its first employees. Its founder, Bill Rasmussen, wanted to show Connecticut sport to Connecticut people, but discovered a much larger market. ...