Esports is becoming increasingly important for Central and Eastern Europe’s TV industry.
In Poland, for instance, there is now a locally produced channel dedicated to the genre. Known as E-Sport TV, it is operated by the Warsaw-based company Astro and offered in Orange’s basic package Optymalna.
Viewers in the region have already been able to watch esports on their screens for some time. M7 Group, the operator of Skylink, the leading DTH operator in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, reached an agreement with Modern Times Group (MTG) to distribute its channel esportsTV as far back as September 2016. More recently, at least one Czech broadcaster – FTV Prima – has offered its viewers coverage of leading esports gaming tournaments.
Meanwhile, last October Telekom Austria Group (TAG) signed a wide-ranging agreement with Ginx Esports TV. Under it, TAG is providing technical broadcast services delivery and distributing the channel on Eutelsat 16A to its subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Ginx Esports TV is backed by Sky and ITV and concluded several other important deals last year including ones with DStv (South Africa) and Israel (Cellcom).
Also last year, Eleven Sports, which has a strong presence in Poland, signed an agreement with the esports company Gfinity. As a result, it is now able to show the latter’s Elite Series on an exclusive basis to its viewers.
SPI International/Filmbox is also playing an important role in the esports field in Central and Eastern Europe. Its interactive channel Gametoon is becoming more widely available in the region thanks to such distribution agreements as those recently signed with Bulsatcom (Bulgaria) and Inea (Poland).
Finally, the growing popularity of esports in Russia has not escaped the attention of MTS, one of the country’s leading telcos. Just last month it bought Praliss Enterprises, a company that manages the cyber-sport club Gambit Esports.
Russia was already the second largest esports market in Europe after France in 2016, with revenues of $35.4 million, according to figures produced by SuperData Research for PayPal, and may now even be the largest.
