CNN/SI's closure had been attributed to competition with other all-sports news networks and sports newscasts which started around the same time, such as
ESPNews and
Fox Sports Net's
National Sports Report. Though CNN/SI aired exclusive content, such as the tape of former
Indiana University coach
Bob Knight choking player
Neil Reed, the channel reached only 20 million homes, not adequate enough to receive a rating by
Nielsen Media Research, which reduced sponsorship. ESPNews, in contrast, benefited from being bundled with
ESPN (86.5 million homes). The news channel parent CNN did not have the same influence with cable operators for its all-sports news channel. CNN's cancellation of their flagship sports program,
Sports Tonight (which had already been retooled to compete with
SportsCenter) after the
September 11 attacks contributed to the closure of CNN/SI, as it lost all connections to their mother network. Near its closure,
Sports Tonight was exclusive to CNN/SI. CNN/SI added
NASCAR qualifying,
Wimbledon matches,
National Lacrosse League matches, and televised the now-defunct
Women's United Soccer Association CNN/SI shut down on May 15, 2002. On many cable systems, CNN/SI was replaced by
NBA TV. NBA TV, which launched in
1999, eventually evolved into a joint venture between Time Warner and the NBA that officially launched on October 28, 2008. Following the network's closure, its international sports program
World Sport continues to air, and since 2002 has been produced by
CNN International. CNN itself would not produce another regular sportscast until 2024, when a new CNN-produced newscast,
TNT Sports Tonight, debuted on
TruTV as part of a plan to increase sports programming on that network. == Website ==