ESPN plays a lot of self-promoting commercials, which isn't normally a good thing (e.g. "60 Minutes will play in its entirety directly following the football game" -- who cares?), but they do it in a way that doesn't actually advertise anything, which is a good thing.  In other words, they exist solely for entertainment, though I suppose they communicate the vague notion that since ESPN makes funny commercials, they're a TV channel that's worth watching.  Either way, it works, both in the sense that their commercials are entertaining, and that since they're entertaining, I want to watch more ESPN. #entertainment