Little League World Series - Media Coverage

Media Coverage

See also: Little League World Series on television and List of Little League World Series Championship Game broadcasters

The first broadcast of the Little League World Series on television was on ABC Sports (now ESPN on ABC) in 1963. At first, only the championship game was televised. Since the late 1980s, when the tournament was reorganized, both the U.S. and international championships, the "semifinals," have been shown. As the years passed, more telecasts were added on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. In 2006, 28 of the 36 games were televised on the three networks.

The 2006 world championship game was to be the last telecast on ABC Sports before ESPN's complete takeover of the sports division and name change. However, the final was postponed one day because of rain and was shown by ESPN2.

In January 2007, it was announced that ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC had extended their contract with the Little League organization through 2014. That year, every game of the LLWS was scheduled to be televised for the first time, with all but one game live on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. (The other game was to be available online at ESPN360, then shown on ESPN2 the next day.) In addition, a number of games were to be shown in high-definition on one of ESPN's two dedicated HD channels, or on ABC HD. The championship games in all other divisions, as well as the semifinals and finals of the Little League Softball World Series, was scheduled for either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

In June 2011, it was announced that ESPN would add 17 games to its schedule on ESPN 3D.

Most LLWS games are broadcast live on local radio station WRAK 1400AM, which is owned by Clear Channel. The radio broadcasts are also streamed online at the LLWS page at littleleague.org.