Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg hopes her new All Women’s Sports Network will bring more attention to women’s sports.
Goldberg co-founded the network with George Chung, co-founder of international media holding company Jungo TV. It is the first global media channel dedicated exclusively to highlighting women in sports and is available on Vizio WatchFree+, a free streaming service in the United States.
Goldberg told CNBC that her childhood passion for sports and a desire for more female representation in the field inspired her to start the network.
“I want little girls to be able to get what we used to call baseball cards for their new favorite players, and I want them to be able to follow Mickey Mantle the same way I followed Mickey Mantle,” Goldberg said.
AWSN is also available through international partners in India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
The network will broadcast 2,000 hours of live sports throughout the remainder of this year and into 2025.
Actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Todd O’Young | NBC Universal | Getty Images
Goldberg said she hopes the growth of women’s basketball and soccer will help bring attention to other women’s sports.
“We’re starting to see amazing basketball games, and I think more people are saying, ‘Hey, I want to see more games like this.’ What other sports are women playing that we don’t know about? “I hope it’s To be able to show up because women are doing it. “
Chung said Vizio currently covers 20 million TV sets, and AWSN is expected to be available on more than 100 million devices in the U.S. within the next three to four months
Goldberg admits she faced some initial resistance when launching the network, but once she met Zheng, their goals aligned.
“I love a good business proposition and I want it to last my lifetime. I want it to be as well known as ABC or NBC or CBS,” she said.
Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.
