Whoopi Goldberg’s All Women’s Sports Network aims to raise awareness

Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg hopes her newly launched All Women’s Sports Network will bring more attention to women’s sports.

Goldberg founded the network with George Chung, co-founder of the international media holding Jungo TV. It is the first global media channel dedicated solely to highlighting women’s sports and is available in the United States on the free streaming service Vizio WatchFree+.

Goldberg told CNBC that her childhood passion for sports and her desire for greater representation of women in the field inspired her to create the network.

“I want little girls to have what we used to call baseball cards for their new favorite players, and I want them to follow the same way I used to follow Mickey Mantle,” Goldberg said.

AWSN is also available through international partners in India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.

The channel will broadcast 2,000 hours of live sports for the remainder of this year and into 2025. It will offer a wide range of sports, from football, basketball, volleyball and field hockey to cricket, judo and table tennis.

Goldberg said she hopes the growth of women’s basketball and soccer will help bring other women’s sports into the spotlight.

“We started seeing some great basketball and I think more people said, ‘Hey, I want to see more of that.’ “What other sports do women play that we don’t know about? I love roller derby.” “I want it out there because women do it.”

Goldberg admitted that she initially faced some resistance when starting the network, but when she met Chung, their goals aligned.

“I like a good business proposition and I want it to last well beyond my lifetime. I want it to be as well known as ABC, NBC or CBS,” she said.

Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.