The MCS group bought the E-League’s french rights, the big Counter Strike tournament broadcasted on TBS. MCS Extreme will broadcast the competition starting with play-offs on friday nights at 10.30pm.
“That will be a full-scale test which will allows us to measure the impact of esport” assures Julien Suire, “Ma Chaine Sport” Extreme’s editorial manager. The channel tries to position itself on the video games competions for more than a year and a half now, on several attempts : delayed broadcastind of ESWC at the Paris Games Week or Call of Duty worldwild championship at the Zenith.
A qualitative study shows that it will be coherent for spectators to watch e-sport on their channel. If electronic sport is pretty far away from MCS Extreme’s core business and doesn’t belong to the same world, Julien Suire claims “a generational infatuation”.
It’s IMG, specialized agency managing the broadcasting rights of several athletic events, which suggested E-League. The format developed by TBS is well suited for television; an opportunity that you cannot refuse. If the rights’ price is confidential, the editorial manager assures that it’s a standard price in a range similar of extreme sports. Far away from exposed sport as football or basketball.
A few months after the E-Football League launched by “L’Equipe 21”, the French television sees a second channel interested in electronic sport. When the mixed audience ratings are mentioned during FIFA championship, Julien Suire assures that he is not afraid : “I think L’Equipe 21 makes a mistake by assimilating e-sport with sport, they must not be mingled. We bet on games such as Call of Duty or Counter Strike which are much more promising in terms of audience. I take what’s best without cheapened it and forgetting our economic environment.”
Today, MCS Extreme is in a rush to be ready for its first prime-time. The team is also working on the matches from monday to thursday that will be broadcasted on its website. Regarding the possible problematics with the CSA ( French Superior Council of Audiovisual (Content) ), the channel took the lead : the E-League will be a program broadcasted at 10.30pm, rated PG-16. First broadcast, early July.
