ELS/Eurosport deal

eSports league to be broadcast on European telly.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on Sept. 17, 2010

Cologne, September 17, 2010 – Turtle Entertainment, the company behind the Electronic Sports League, together with Intel, the main sponsor of the Intel Extreme Masters, begin their cooperation with the Eurosport Group, the leading sports multimedia platform in Europe. The partnership will be focused on one of the Turtle's main projects, the Intel Extreme Masters, described as a global league of video game champions. The result of the combined effort will be six episodes of an exclusive TV eSports show delivered to over 20 million viewers. It will have its premiere in early October 2010.

"Intel Extreme Masters" will be the first pan-European TV show presenting the Intel Extreme Masters V with the world's best professional gamers in action. It will be broadcasted on both Eurosport and Eurosport 2. eSports champions from Europe, Asia and America will be accompanied by the Eurosport crew at all events of the Intel Extreme Masters V including Global Challenge in Cologne or American Championship in New York City. Each episode will focus on the gamers and their ups and downs in the tournament from its first live event in Shanghai untill its World Championship in Hanover in March, 2011.

"Eurosport is delighted to be involved in this exciting project which brings us together with innovative organizations Turtle Entertainment and Intel. This strategic cooperation demonstrates Eurosport undisputed ability to broadcast original entertainment programming across its multimedia platform,” says Vincent Le Goff, Head of Programming for Eurosport.

“Just like many other sports, eSports is about competition, passion and best-in-class technology. With today’s announcement we are witnessing professional eSports growing to the next level, and becoming a member of the traditional athletic family,” says Harald Wilhelm, the Event and Sponsorship Programs Manager at Intel Corporation. “ESL, Eurosport and their global networks are great partners for Intel to bring pc gaming competitions into the homes of sports fans around the world. We are excited to be part of it,” he adds.

“With the help of Eurosport we are breaking new ground for the Intel Extreme Masters,” says Ralf Reichert, the Managing Director at Turtle Entertainment. “This is the first time that ESL's world best gamers are getting regular television coverage that reaches millions of homes on par with classic sport. We are thrilled to be able to relay the passion and intensity of eSports millions of fresh eyes,” he adds.

Each of the episodes will last for about 25 minutes and will be shown first on Eurosport 2 available in 47 countries in 15 languages. It will be repeated twice afterwards and then presented on Eurosport International broadcasting to 59 countries in 20 languages. In addition, an online video extract from each show will be available in the international video section of the Eurosport online network.

Intel Extreme Masters

Intel® Extreme Masters is the global league of eSports champions since 2006. The league arranges the hardest and most popular competitions in Counter-Strike, StarCraft 2 and QuakeLive. eSports champions from Europe, Asia and America struggle for $400,000 in prize money - the most lucrative prize purse globally. Live tournaments at the worlds largest IT- and Gaming conventions feature the top performers of the season - global stars in eSports. The fifth season will have its exciting final in Germany in 2011, finding the top teams and players in the Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship.The IPTV station ESL TV presents the best games of the season live and reports directly from the offline events.

Further information is available at: www.intelextrememasters.com

Eurosport Group

The Eurosport Group is Europe's leading sports entertainment group. Eurosport, the n°1 pan-European TV channel, is broadcast in 20 languages reaching 120 million homes and 240 million viewers across 59 countries. Eurosport HD is the high definition simulcast of Eurosport. Eurosport 2, the new generation sports channel, broadcasts to 44 million households in 15 languages across 47 countries. Eurosport 2 HD was launched in August 2009. Eurosport Asia-Pacific reaches 14 countries in the region. Eurosportnews provides up-to-date sports TV news transmitted worldwide. Online, Eurosport has a network of dedicated sports websites in 10 different languages. Eurosport is ranked as Europe's N°1 online sports destination and is visited by over 10 million unique users per month (comScore). Eurosport Mobile offers Live streaming, mobi le sites and mobile applications in 9 languages providing LIVE sports news and results. Eurosport Events is the group's expert division in the organisation, management and promotion of international sporting events.

For more information, please visit www.eurosportcorporate.com

Intel Corporation

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com

Turtle Entertainment GmbH

Turtle Entertainment was founded in 2000. The company quickly grew to be the European leader in the sector of electronic sports (eSports). The Electronic Sports League (ESL), operated by Turtle Entertainment, is active in 37 different countries worldwide. The league portal www.esl.eu reaches above ten million visits a month generated by more than 2,5 million registered users. Turtle Entertainment broadcasts ESL events via IPTV channel ESL TV since 2007. The headquarter has 160 employees and is located in Cologne, Germany. Turtle Entertainment owns the majority of the Chinese eSports league PGL (Pro Gamer League) since 2007. Important business partners of Turtle Entertainment are global corporations such as Intel, Alienware, ASUS, adidas, Volkswagen, Nokia, Trend Micro, Sennheiser, Windows 7, Sidewinder, SteelSeries and gamed.de.

Further information is available at www.turtle-entertainment.com

All links at a glance:

- This Press Release as PDF at: www.turtle-entertainment.com/Dateien/PM_Eurosport_IEM5_EN.pdf

- Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters at: www.intelextrememasters.com

- Intel Extreme Masters YouTube-Channel: www.youtube.com/IntelExtremeMasters

- Photos from the Intel Extreme Masters Events at: www.flickr.com/photos/eslphotos/collections/72157621757398398/

- Further information about the Eurosport Group at www.eurosportcorporate.com

- Further information about Electronic Sports League at www.esl.eu

- Further information about Turtle Entertainment at: www.turtle-entertainment.com

- Company Trailer Turtle Entertainment GmbH (browser flash movie): http://files.turtle-entertainment.de/video/eslpromo.html

Contact:

Turtle Entertainment GmbH