Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg hopes her newly launched All Women’s Sports Network will bring more attention to women’s sports.
Goldberg launched the network with George Cheung, co-founder of international media holding company Djungo TV. It is the first global media channel to exclusively feature women’s sports and is available in the U.S. on the free streaming service Vizio WatchFree+.
Goldberg told CNBC that her childhood passion for sports and a desire to increase female representation in the field inspired her to start the network.
“I want little girls to have so-called baseball cards of their new favorite players. And I want them to chase after Mickey Mantle just like I chased Mickey Mantle. I want to have it,” Goldberg said.
AWSN is also available from international partners in India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.
The network plans to broadcast 2,000 hours of live sports from the rest of this year through 2025. It will feature a wide range of sports, from soccer, basketball, volleyball and field hockey to cricket, judo and table tennis.
Actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Todd Owyon | NBC Universal | Getty Images
Goldberg said she hopes the growth of women’s basketball and soccer will help shine a spotlight on other women’s sports.
“I think more people are seeing great basketball being played and saying, “Oh, I want to see more of that game.” There are other women that we don’t know about. What sport do you play? I love roller derby. I want America to have a roller derby team. ” Goldberg said. “It’s a woman doing it, so I want it to be brought out into the world.”
Chung said Vizio is now at 20 million TVs and expects AWSN to be available on more than 100 million devices in the U.S. within the next three to four months. .
Goldberg admitted that he initially encountered some resistance when launching the network, but once he met Chan, their goals were aligned.
“I like a good business proposition, and I want this to last beyond my lifetime. I want to be as famous as ABC, NBC, and CBS,” she said.
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