Last year DIRECTV broadcast BlizzCon 2008 as a pay per view event, giving those who purchased the programming a code for the show-exclusive polar bear mount. This was great for DIRECTV owners, but not so nice for those fans that couldn't get the service in their area. That worry disappears this year, with a web stream available for purchase at the same price as the pay per view - $39.95 - which also includes the limited edition Grunty pet for World of Warcraft, which will likely make it the least rare convention-exclusive promotional World of Warcraft item ever.

Along with the pet, viewers will also get more than 16 hours of streaming video coverage of the event, with interviews, commentary, and the closing ceremonies, featuring a live performance by the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne.

Head over to the event page to purchase your streaming entertainment, or just stick around Kotaku, where I'll be on the scene at BlizzCon from Thursday night on through to the bitter end.

But what if you don't have DIRECTV and have no desire to change? Odds are you have a friend or relative who does. Give them $40. Get your polar bear mount on. Oh, and before we start complaining because we didn't think of it first, the odds are the mount will be delivered via redeemable code in game, so even if you don't care, eBay always cares.

DIRECTV Delivers Unprecedented Event Access to Sold-Out BlizzCon™ 2008
DIRECTV’s Live BlizzCon 2008 Pay Per View Event Is Free To Customers Who Sign Up for DIRECTV by Sept. 30

BlizzCon(TM) 2008
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—BlizzCon™ 2008, Blizzard Entertainment®’s sold-out gaming convention celebrating the global player communities that surround its Warcraft®, Diablo®, and StarCraft® game universes, will be televised live in HD on Oct. 10 and 11 as a pay per view package available exclusively to DIRECTV customers nationwide.

DIRECTV is currently running a special promotion — available through the BlizzCon website (http://www.blizzcon.com/dtv) – offering the pay per view event free to new customers who sign up for DIRECTV by Sept. 30, 2008. Current DIRECTV customers will be able to order the event beginning Sept. 28 for $39.95.

In addition, DIRECTV customers who purchase the pay per view event or get it as part of the special promotion will also receive an exclusive in-game polar bear mount, complete with a BlizzCon-flag-waving murloc, for the World of Warcraft character they play.

“This first-ever BlizzCon pay per view event is an exciting option for Blizzard gamers across the country,” said Steven Roberts, senior vice president, New Media and Business Development, DIRECTV, Inc. “For the first time, they don’t have to rely on the Internet to get the inside scoop on the convention. Viewers will feel like they are actually walking the show floor as they watch live coverage of the event from DIRECTV in HD. We are happy to be partnering with Blizzard Entertainment and to televise one of the most highly anticipated gaming conventions of the year exclusively to DIRECTV customers nationwide.”

This DIRECTV-produced pay per view event will deliver more than 16 hours of live HD coverage from the show floor spanning both days of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demonstrations and more. The live coverage, broadcast from the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., will air Oct. 10 and 11 on DIRECTV channels 97 (HD) and 120 (SD).

For more information on how to order the DIRECTV BlizzCon 2008 pay-per-view event please visit www.blizzcon.com or call 1-800-728-9375.

“Meeting and interacting with our players at BlizzCon is always a great experience for us,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also pleased to be working with DIRECTV this year to bring the show, for the first time, to those players who are unable to attend.”

Yes, Blizzard and DirecTV are joining forces to broadcast highlights of the show via pay per view. Don't have DirecTV? New subscribers in August will get the BlizzCon pay per view for free with their order. I cannot think of a more ridiculous reason to change your cable television provider.

BlizzCon™ 2008 Tickets on Sale August 11
Unprecedented event coverage also available exclusively on DIRECTV

IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that tickets for its third BlizzCon™ gaming convention will go on sale August 11 and that live coverage of the event will be available as an exclusive DIRECTV pay per view event. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®’s Warcraft®, Diablo®, and StarCraft® game universes. The event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11.

“Meeting and interacting with our players at BlizzCon is always a great experience for us,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also pleased to be working with DIRECTV this year to bring the show, for the first time, to those players who are unable to attend.”

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests, and more. Tickets to the convention will be priced at $100 USD each, and will be available for purchase directly from the official BlizzCon website at www.blizzcon.com.

The pay per view event will deliver a minimum of eight hours of live HD coverage from the show floor on each day of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demos, and more. Beginning in August, DIRECTV will run a promotion offering the BlizzCon pay per view event free to new DIRECTV subscribers. Pricing for existing DIRECTV customers and programming details will be available in the coming weeks from Blizzard Entertainment and DIRECTV.

“BlizzCon is one of the most highly anticipated gaming conventions of the year, and we are excited to partner with Blizzard Entertainment to deliver coverage of the show to gamers nationwide,” said Steven Roberts, senior vice president, new media and business development, DIRECTV. “With our BlizzCon pay per view package, members of Blizzard’s gaming communities who are not attending the event can now experience it in crystal-clear HD.”

As the event draws closer, further details will be announced at www.blizzcon.com.

Of course I'm sure someone watches DIRECTV's Channel 101, where the Championship Gaming Series Word Final will be aired later this week, but if the press release for the finals is going to go all crazy with hyperbole by calling this THE most important event in television history, I think I'm allowed to counter that with anti-hyperbole.

What exactly happened to the Championship Gaming Series? It's certainly hasn't stopped airing, in fact it's chugging along quite nicely, but it seems to have failed to break free of the niche fans that have always followed pro-gaming. I don't have any hard numbers to back this up, mostly because none have been released, but anecdotally the main stream audience doesn't seem interesting in pro-gaming, still.

What's more, while I certainly was impressed with the vast amount of resources DIRECTV dumped into the Championship Gaming Series, I can't imagine the company will continue to do so, not with rumors of shake-ups and firings within the company surfacing.

One problem, I think, is that DIRECTV is started with a limited audience and trying to attract them to something that is a hard sell to people who aren't gamers, heck even to people who are gamers.

While I wonder if they series will survive, let along thrive, it might be better to start wondering when, not if this league will go under.

The Most Important TV Event in the History of Video Games to Air Exclusively on DIRECTV's Channel 101

-Top Teams from Around the World Compete in the Championship Gaming Series World Final for the Coveted Dew Trophy and $1,000,000 Prize Purse

El Segundo, Calif., December 3, 2007 — DIRECTV, the nation's leading satellite television service provider, is making sports history once again with the exclusive live broadcast of the inaugural Championship Gaming Series (CGS) World Final. The competition will take place December 6-14 at the Sony Studios in Los Angeles where more than 100 of the world's top professional gamers will compete for the league's first-ever World Champion title and a share of the $1,000,000 prize purse. All the action will be captured live and in HD on DIRECTV's original entertainment channel, The 101, starting December 6 at 10pm ET.

"This is the Super Bowl 1 of professional video gaming," said Eric Shanks, executive vice president, DIRECTV Entertainment. "We couldn't be more pleased with year one of the league and the excitement that it has created worldwide."

The CGS World Final will be the first-ever international gaming event to present all the action live, as it happens, allowing fans at home to experience the match-ups like any other sport. The groundbreaking coverage will commence with the start of CGS World Final on December 6 and broadcast three hours of single elimination competitions each night leading up to the championship game on December 14.

The playoffs will feature the top CGS teams from around the world as they compete in PC and console based games. Valve's Counter-Strike®: Source® and EA's FIFA 2007 are the official PC games for CGS while Tecmo's® Dead or Alive® 4 (DOA4) and Project Gotham Racing® 3 (PGR3) from Microsoft Game Studios will be played on Xbox 360. Each round of the World Final is single elimination and the last team standing will receive the coveted Dew Trophy as well as $500,000 in prize money.

In addition to the team playoffs, the World Final will also feature a special "battle of the sexes" DOA4 match-up where Vanessa Arteaga and Ryan "OffBeatNinja" Ward, the top female and male DOA players in the world, will battle it out for supremacy. The contest, dubbed the "Itagaki Challenge," is the brainchild of DOA creator Tomonobu Itagaki, who will preside over the face-off and present the winner with the ultimate DOA prize package, including a ceremonial Japanese Katana sword and a trip to Tokyo. The individual competition will air live on The 101 December 13 at 11:30pm ET.

"We're honored that DOA game creator and international superstar Tomonobu Itagaki recognizes the CGS as the world's leading professional video gaming league in the world," said Andy Reif, CGS commissioner and CEO. "We've set our stake in the ground and proved ourselves as a legitimate sport and look forward to growing the league and esports in the years to come."

In what will become an annual platform for the world's best gamers to compete professionally, the inaugural CGS World Final will be broadcast on television to more than 350 million viewers worldwide by DIRECTV's The 101 in the U.S., BSkyB's Sky One, Sky Two and Sky HD in the UK, ESPN STAR Sports in Asia, SKY in Mexico and Brazil, DIRECTV throughout the rest of Latin America, and across mainland Europe via additional soon-to-be confirmed broadcast partners.

CGS World Final event schedule is as follows:

December 6: CGS World Final press conference
December 6: First round day 1
December 7: First round day 2
December 10: Quarterfinals day 1
December 11: Quarterfinals day 2
December 13: Semifinals & Itagaki Challenge
December 14: Final

The official CGS teams participating in the World Final are as follows:

Berlin Allianz
Birmingham Salvo
Carolina Core
Chicago Chimera
London Mint
Mexico City Furia
Rio Sinistro
Seoul Jinhwa
Singapore Sword
Stockholm Magnetik
Sydney Underground
Wuhan Dragon

For more information, please go to thecgs.com.

That's weird.

The Championship Gaming Series, DIRECTV's take on pro-gaming, just announced a commissioner for their sport and he's the former COO of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

I understand that sports are sports, but it would be nice if there was a little bit of cross-over between Andy Reif's previous job and his new one.

Reif will oversee the establishment of the league and its development in North America, South America, UK/Europe and Asia/Australia.

"The opportunity to start a major sports league, with global television coverage in more than 100,000,000 homes through DIRECTV (North America and Latin America), BSkyB (UK), and STAR (Asia and Australia), has never happened before," said Reif. "No other major sport started with such an arsenal of media. We have been assembling the very best talent from the gaming and broadcast worlds and CGS will change sports entertainment forever. We are going to provide an unparalleled entertainment experience to rival any other major sports league."

"Our 2006 invitational events were a tremendous success," said Eric Shanks, Executive Vice President of Entertainment at DIRECTV. "Now with the arrival of Andy, we're ready to elevate pro gaming to the world stage. DIRECTV is committed to seeing that professional gaming has the best production team in the industry and we will be creating more than 30 hours of programming for the 2007 season in North America alone, which is an unprecedented level of coverage for the sport."

The new league will kick-off with a qualifying period and a draft. CGS said they will be announcing North American online qualifiers soon as well as offline regional qualifiers in New York and Los Angeles. Brian Crecente

"Game Lounge's unique platform is engaging the minds of both parents and children and bringing family game night back to DirecTV households across the country," said Eric Shanks, executive vice president, DirecTV Entertainment.

DirecTV Enters Casual Gaming Market With Game Lounge [Gamasutra]

DIRECTV today unveiled some more details about the pro gaming league they are creating and planning to broadcast internationally.

The broadcast company is in talks with British Sky Broadcasting and STAR Asia to secure international broadcast of their newly formed Championship Gaming Series, according to the company.

They also announced that long time pro-gaming poster child Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell will be trading in his keyboard and mouse for a microphone, taking on the role of the new comp's play-by-play commentator, spokesperson and advisor.

"We couldn't help but notice that gaming had actually become a sport. Not only in the way the gamers created teams to compete, but also in their conditioning and mind set and dedication while playing. So it wasn't a quantum leap to then determine if it was becoming a sport, we should cover it like a sport, said David Hill, President, DIRECTV Entertainment. "The reaction to our first production, the Championship Gaming Invitational, was little short of phenomenal, so it was a no-brainer to take this next logical step to create the series. We believe the combination of a world wide broadcast platform, coupled with forward thinking partners like Mountain Dew, will create a brand new sport which is truly universal. Championship Gaming Series has the potential to become the next soccer in terms of world wide appeal."

The Championship Gaming Series will be based in five regions around the word: North America, Latin America, UK, Europe and Australia/Asia/Middle East.

Each region will host online qualifiers and live tournament events to determine the teams which will represent each area. From those competitions, twelve champion teams will emerge and compete in the league's Grand Slam round. Grand Slam winners, both individuals and teams, will advance to the Championship Gaming Series World Championship, which will be hosted in the United States.

Championship Gaming Series teams will consist of squads dedicated to playing specific game genres, including racing, fighting, action/adventure/strategy and first person shooters. In the United States, the series will have six regional teams comprised of the best players in each gaming genre.

Sounds like a pretty solid plan and with the combined support of so many pro-gamers and organizers as well as some pretty huge sponsors and of course DIRECTV, I suspect this could be the one that finally brings pro gaming to the ungamed masses. Brian Crecente

LAS VEGAS —(Business Wire)— Jan. 8, 2007 DIRECTV, the nation's leading satellite television service provider, announced today at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show that it is taking the sports entertainment world by storm with launch of the Championship Gaming Series, an international video gaming league which will broadcast to over 100 million homes worldwide starting in Spring 2007 and airing nationally on DIRECTV's The 101. The Series, which was originally announced last year, will expand to feature teams from North America, Latin America, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia as the world's top pro gamers battle in cyber-space for the international title and over $1 million in prize money.

DIRECTV is in final discussions with global entertainment giants British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR Asia, among others, to build an international network and to broadcast the Championship Gaming Series. In addition to international televised distribution, the series will partner with Internet powerhouse IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, to provide online coverage, creating a multi-platform opportunity to bring gaming to the masses.
Gaming legend Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel will capture the action as the exclusive play-by-play commentator and global league spokesperson and advisor. With a roster of the best pro gamers in the world, unparalleled production values and best-in-class televised sports-style coverage, the series will be the dominant force in professional gaming worldwide.

The series will take the exploding phenomenon of professional gaming to the next level with high-definition televised league play using advanced technology to take viewers inside the games themselves. For the first time in the history of the sport, team members who qualify for the Championship Gaming Series will be drafted by franchises and paid salaries as full-time pro gamers. Team franchises will be led by salaried General Managers, who are established leaders in competitive gaming.

"We couldn't help but notice that gaming had actually become a sport. Not only in the way the gamers created teams to compete, but also in their conditioning and mind set and dedication while playing. So it wasn't a quantum leap to then determine if it was becoming a sport, we should cover it like a sport, said David Hill, President, DIRECTV Entertainment. "The reaction to our first production, the Championship Gaming Invitational, was little short of phenomenal, so it was a no-brainer to take this next logical step to create the series. We believe the combination of a world wide broadcast platform, coupled with forward thinking partners like Mountain Dew, will create a brand new sport which is truly universal. Championship Gaming Series has the potential to become the next soccer in terms of world wide appeal."

The series will employ industry giants to transform the game action into compelling television for both gamers and non-gamers alike. Fatal1ty, who after dominating the sport for seven years, will take on a new role as exclusive play-by-play commentator for the Series. Eleven-time Emmy Award-winner Mike Burks will control multiple high-definition cameras, as well as virtual cameras to cover all the action, both on and off the playing field. With its unparalleled production value and televised sports-style coverage, the Championship Gaming Series will set the standard for professional gaming competitions worldwide.

"DIRECTV really understands the nature of gaming and has figured out how to turn the sport I love into something that gamers and non-gamers will enjoy on television," said Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel. "I can't wait to take over the microphone and play such an important role in the evolution and expansion competitive video gaming. Championship Gaming Series is going to be the best platform for aspiring gamers to realize what it takes to become an international gaming champion."

"We are excited about the Championship Gaming Series and look forward to becoming the lead gaming and broadcast partner for the Series in the UK and Ireland. Gaming fits squarely into Sky's strategy for providing an unmatched in-home entertainment experience and we look forward to moving ahead with the project," comments James Baker, Managing Director of Sky Networked Media.

Championship Gaming Series will be structurally based in five regions around the world - North America, Latin America, UK, Europe and Australia/Asia/Middle East. Each region will host online qualifiers and live tournament events to determine the teams which will represent each area. From those competitions, twelve champion teams will emerge and compete in the league's Grand Slam round. Grand Slam winners, both individuals and teams, will advance to the Championship Gaming Series World Championship, which will be hosted in the United States.

"The Championship Gaming Series has the potential to transform the professional gaming industry," said Frank Cooper, vice president, flavored soft drinks, Pepsi-Cola North America. "As a founding partner of the series, Mountain Dew sees this as a unique opportunity to redefine our role in the world of gaming, supporting a unique initiative that enables gaming enthusiasts get closer to the latest technology."

Championship Gaming Series teams will consist of squads dedicated to playing specific game genres, including racing, fighting, action/adventure/strategy and first person shooters. In the United States, the series will have six regional teams comprised of the best players in each gaming genre.

DIRECTV's first U.S. Championship Gaming Invitational (CGI), which aired in July of 2006, was held in a 16,000-square-foot airplane hanger, at the former Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco. Competitors faced off in games such as Electronic Arts(TM) Battlefield 2(TM), Microsoft Game Studio's(TM) Project Gotham Racing(R) 3 and Halo(R) 2, for prizes and instant money payouts. First prize winners included complexity, 20ID, Jason "FiddyownsU" Hodges, Joe "Phantom Hitman" Tackett and Emmanuel "MASTER" Rodriguez. The second CGI took place at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, CA on December 16 and will premiere on DIRECTV's The 101 in February, 2007.

Clickable Culture turns up a DIRECTV Press Release from CES announcing the company's plans to include a "Massive Gaming League" among its channels. Pro gaming lands a little bit more exposure, it would seem.

"Massive Gaming League" Coming to DIRECTV [Clickable Culture]
DIRECTV News Release [PR]