Televised SC2 are we headed there already?

Hey TL'rs Maple here again, this time for my 100th post here on TL. After much contemplation and consideration to an appropriate topic for a 100th post. A mini milestone for the community but one we love to put some effort into.
With that in mind and about a week of lurking TL wondering what would be a good topic. The recent events and tournaments over whelming success with online streams, receiving huge audiences upwards of 20, 000+ for TSL/MLG/NASL/Dreamhack really put a thought in my head that has started to sink in. Can StarCraft 2 catch the attention of enough people online to feasibly make the jump to television? Sure it may seem like a stretch at first glance, but in this Blog I hope to present evidence and hope to discuss with you your thoughts on whether you believe it possible based on further evidence or through reasonable debate/discussion. That said... lets get this show on the road!

TL;DR - Kind of an opinion blog but ok... using current examples of television shows based on internet content and recent success with StarCraft related events, taken into consideration the information below, is it feasible to have a NA or EU television show for SC2 like Korea has for Gom TV

1. Can a television show that started on the internet or have content based on solely online content?

Absolutely, a show on the Syfy network for those in the US and Space in Canada called Sanctuary premiered the first season the their networks October 3rd 2008, there were 13 episodes and has been renewed 3 times bringing the show into season 4 in fall 2011.

However this wasn't technically the first season of the show. It actually started as an online only show that had 8 episodes and was filmed almost entirely with green screen, as is the shows current trade mark for building convincing city scapes and abnormal creatures. Another show that bases a large amount of its content off the internet is Tosh.0, if you like laughing your ass off your probably no stranger to this show either.

It is also in its 3rd season, with a large fan base following on twitter and his community site Tosh.0 not only bases his show on the internet and the crazy shit out here, but realizes that having a connection with the community that he parodies is a good to not only expand his show but receive feedback from fans.

2 Does the community produce content that could be considered "Television material"?

I think that if we consider that in Korea GSL is already on television and use their program as a comparative template for what NA or the EU currently is producing currently, ignoring the culture base already established in the Korea surrounding e-sports, to some degree yes and no.

The fact GSL has had a longer time to establish their show certainly helps the smoothness of the production and the overall smoothness of the event for variables within their control has helped them go from a highly criticized online broadcast to almost a benchmark. This isn't to say that MLG, Dreamhack, NASL, and the TSL are a bunch of slouches with sub-par content. Far from it, in fact its the exact opposite! The two traveling tournaments (MLG, Dreamhack) picked up StarCraft 2 last year and did their best to accommodate a large community that seemed to come out of no where and make the online tournament scene what it currently is. Both of which have had their rough days or weekends with lag, stream crashes, and just other technical issues that pop up when dealing with new venues frequently and growing crowds from event to event. Watching the Dreamhack VoDs on http://www.justin.tv/dreamhacktv/videos today when I got home I was amazed at the production value increase and just the amount of effort shown even from the last event held back in December 2010. MLG recently had a disappointing weekend, however the overall feedback back players about the event was positive and Sundance has been all over Twitter and TL addressing the issues like a man possessed it seems. The TSL we all obviously know what it is and where to watch it, that said I was/am very happy of each of the TSL broadcasts we've had little to no complications beyond latency which is just something us gamers learn to deal with over years of online play. At first I was expecting just another online tourney stream cast with some big wig TL/YouTube casters, but I was pleasantly surprised(again I might add) at another tournament that resembled more of a "show" then a standard stream. I don't think we can talk about production quality for streamed tournaments without at least mentioning http://screddit.com/ their open tournament was the first online tournament that we saw with some exceptional production value, and was entirely produced by people who just love the game! Of course there's a lot the current "big name" tournament streams and events can improve on, however you cant help but feel like with the sheer amount of quality content you have access to for free not to mention PPV content provided were going in a good direction.

3 What channels can StarCraft 2 be marketed to realistically?

Well to be honest I can only think of one channel that has recently had a show based on video games in general, Spike TV Video Game Awards have been hosted each year since 2003, 2010 by Neil Patrick Harris. StarCraft 2 was nominated this year for Studio of the Year.

That said, what is needed in terms of online views via stream or PPV content subscriptions to constitute "worthy of note" for a channel to pick up and air on a frequent enough basis that a league or tournament could be run to a degree that the community would expect, mostly in comparison to the GSL I would imagine. MLG has already shown that e-sports can grab the attention of big name sponsors outside of the gaming or computer industry (we've all seen the hilarious commercials). Spike also falls into the cable channel category which makes it more accessible because it is in the basic package for cable or satellite (in Canada anyways it is). Not to mention the station has the self imposed image of the "Mans" network ( no offense ladies, seriously we know your in larger numbers than given credit for) makes having a video game television show a bit more plausible when taking their current shows into consideration, most of which are re-runs. Do 20,000+ plus live viewers for the large events compare to the re-runs that are on the channel currently, I don't know to be perfectly honest I couldn't find anything about ratings. Or even what the GSL get in numbers each night via the stream and their television coverage is I couldn't tell you. But I would love to be able to compare, even if the numbers come close or were off by a mile does not really matter, I just want to know lol

So given everything that I've thrown at you, what do you think? Have we got a shot? Or am I just an idealist that loves StarCraft a lot?

Televised SC2 are we headed there already?

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