SkyTV and ITV detail investment in eSports TV channel

The UK facing eSports television channel Ginx TV has received an investment of GBP 3.1 million from media networks Sky and ITV, each committing GBP1.55 million to the enterprise in return for a 16.5 percent stake.

Michiel Bakker, CEO at Ginx TV, said in a statement Thursday:

“GINX eSports TV aims to add significant mainstream TV exposure to the fast growing eSports ecosystem. Complementing online streaming, with an entertainment-led approach, the launch on Sky and the rebrand across all our 37 million households allows us to help new audiences discover eSports and hopefully gives core fans a fresh perspective.

“I am also delighted about the prospect of Sky and ITV joining our shareholder roster, it goes without saying that the combined media footprint and expertise of both presents a significant opportunity for us to make a bigger impact, faster.”

Our readers may recall that in June this year Ginx TV was formed when the UK’s only 24-hour video game TV channel rebranded as an eSports channel with plans to broadcast the biggest events from around the world.

With operational clearance in 34 countries, the company announced that it had raised investment from Sky and ITV, and that it would broadcast Turner’s ELEAGUE, the Esports Championship Series finals and Dota 2’s biggest event, The International.

Ginx also indicated at the time that it had plans to announce content from other partners, including Riot, Gfinity and Activision.

The June announcement revealed that the channel would be available on the two biggest satellite networks in the U.K., Sky and Virgin Media, reaching 14 million households, or 52 percent of total households in the U.K. Internationally, the channel would be available in 37 million homes, it said.

In today’s announcement Sky’s group director for business development, Emma Lloyd, said that the group was pleased to be following up on its commercial partnership with Ginx with the investment, which she said would assist the group in deepening its understanding of eSports and its audience.

Lloyd noted that the Ginx investment follows recent Sky investments in the Drone Racing League, which will be shown on Sky Sports Mix.

Simon Pitts, ITV’s m.d. of Online, Pay and Interactive said:

Esports is experiencing phenomenal growth and Ginx’s vision is to bring together two incredibly popular forms of entertainment – gaming and television – to create a unique, global proposition. We’re delighted to be partnering with Ginx and Sky as part of our strategy to target younger audiences, develop new programming genres and expand internationally.”

Both ITV and Sky have the option to acquire further holdings in Ginx TV. If either party does not take up its option, the remaining party may have the option to acquire 100 percent.

Earlier this year Sky invested $6 million in the US-based international sports streaming service fuboTV, in a move to back “innovative start-up companies” (see previous  report).

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