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Turner Sports and Twitch have teamed up to create a new gaming talk show called “ELEAGUE Super Punch powered by Twitch” that will straddle digital and linear platforms. The show will air on Fridays and debut next month, starting on Twitch at 11:00pm EST to midnight, then transitioning to TBS for an hour, before switching back to Twitch for a final third hour.
The show will be hosted by streamer personalities and will include segments like highlights from around gaming and esports, plus interactive elements. Turner and Twitch had a pre-existing relationship, but this deal marks a new twist. ELEAGUE is Turner’s esports show that it formed in 2016.
Turner Sports Chief Content Officer Craig Barry said the deal is part of the broadcast company pivoting away from mainly focusing on esports for its ELEAGUE property and instead now focusing more on the broader world of gaming and streaming.
He said, “We think more people are involved in gaming culture than esports proper, but we’re not alienating esports; we love esports.”
He noted that ELEAGUE will continue to work with games like FIFA and Rocket League on their esports ventures.
Adam Stern is a staff writer for Sports Business Journal, where this article first appeared.
