the first broadcast of the little league world series on television was on abc sports (now espn on abc) in 1963. for years, 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. in addition, several regional tournament games, which are qualifiers for the llws, are televised on espn during the days leading up to the llws.