Sport1 GmbH is launching a new pan-European eSports channel, eSportsOne.
eSportsOne will go on air on Tuesday, November 3, in several European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, thanks to a distribution deal with the M7 Group.
Following the launch of the first linear TV channel for eSports in the German-speaking world in January 2019 with eSports1, this is the first time Sport1 is implementing a pan-European broadcasting project. The pay-TV channel eSportsOne will be distributed via the M7 platforms TV Vlaanderen, CanalDigitaal and Skylink at launch.
In addition, M7 will act as a central satellite distribution partner. Further platforms in numerous European markets will be added in the coming weeks. Central content partners are ESL, the NBA 2K League and Psyonix with the eSports titles Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3, NBA 2K and Rocket League.
The pan-European channel’s 24/7 programme comprises over 1,000 live hours per year of top-class international eSports events as well as exclusive, self-produced analysis programmes. The programme content is prepared for the international target group by the Sport1 eSports editorial team with experts and influencers from the English-speaking eSports community. All eSports events are broadcast with English commentary, while individual highlights are commented on by the eSports editorial team itself and broadcast from its own studio.
The central content partner for the pan-European area is ESL, the world’s largest eSports company, with serial top competitions for Dota 2, the Warcraft 3 Pro Tour, the Starcraft 2 Pro Tour as well as numerous additional ESL competitions. Other top eSports titles will also be shown, including the NBA 2K League and the international Rocket League Championship Series from Psyonix.
The NBA 2K League, a joint venture between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, is a professional eSports league with the best NBA 2K players in the world – and the first official eSports league operated by a US professional sports league. SPORT1 thus also offers a versatile and comprehensive portfolio at the pan-European channel eSportsONE, thus setting itself apart from existing international offerings.
The agreement with the M7 Group enables the channel to broadcast via satellite and the M7 platforms TV Vlaanderen, CanalDigitaal and Skylink. Additional European markets will be added in the coming weeks through additional co-operations.
“We are pioneers and trailblazers in the growth market esports with its great opportunities: At the beginning of 2019, we launched the first esports channel in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with eSports1 – an important milestone with which we have further expanded our positioning as a leading medium in the German-speaking esports community,” said Olaf Schröder, CEO of Sport1 Medien AG and Chairman of the Management Board of Sport1 GmbH:
“Now we continue our esports success story internationally and are launching a new ground-breaking project with eSportsOne as a pan-European esports broadcaster. Our goal: We want to make esports even bigger in Europe in the future beyond the young core target group and to anchor it even more sustainably in the society.“
