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League/Tournament Brands:
- Blake Broadcasting’s CBNN satellite channels will exclusively broadcast ESL Pro Tour content as well as Dota 2 events.
- The deal covers the United States, Canada, and Asia (except China), beginning March 2020 through July 2023.
- CBNN will go live across Europe in January 2020, Asia in March, and North America in June.
Blake Broadcasting (BBN) has announced a three-year media deal with ESL and DreamHack that includes distribution of the two company’s live esports content on its CBNN satellite television channels and OTT service. The agreement specifically covers events in the ESL Pro Tour for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, as well as Dota 2 competitions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
According to the announcement, CBNN will be the exclusive satellite channel in the United States, Canada, and Asia (excluding China) for the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL Pro League, as well as DreamHack Masters and DreamHack Open events. The release stated that, on top of re-airs, the network would develop studio shows featuring highlights, news, and interviews.
“Our channels are dedicated to providing only the highest quality esports, news, sports, and entertainment content for our viewers, and this groundbreaking deal will make CBNN the largest television broadcaster of esports outside of China,” said Bob Blake, CEO of Blake Broadcasting and a founder of CBNN.
BBN has also licensed content for its channels from Bloomberg Media and digital media company Studio 71 (a division of German media company ProSiebenSat.1). Based in South Florida, BBN’s broadcast operations in Europe will be based out of Luxembourg, while its satellite broadcasts in Asia and North America will be managed by satellite owner and operator SES S.A. A company spokesperson told The Esports Observer that it will announce cable and television partners at a later date.
