EPTMy understanding is that Kespa blocked all its players from continuing to compete in the GOMtv tournaments that were sponsored by Blizzard.
I got that from several posts including the following from 'Go0g3n' which seems to be one of the clearest. Here's the original thread.
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KeSPA is a ruling agency (body) it doesn't pay anything to anybody. It's run by representative of Pro Teams and one each from OGN and MBC channels. They are the ones who will have to pay royalties for every single commercial broadcast involving StarCraft II, let alone all the sub-media that goes with it.
In US Blizzard would be entitled to a huge amount of royalties payments, in Korea it's enough to own a legal copy of the game to broadcast. Blizzard already tried to deal with relevant Korean authorities, but they were sent to "deal with KeSPA". They also tried to deal with MBC/OGN separately, failed there as well. But, and it's a big but, they can't broadcast games played over the web, i.e. on Battle.net, as it requires a completely different international license, which they won't get. Since there's no Lan - no broadcasts for now.
KeSPA answered by killing GOM. Blizzard was heavily sponsoring it, as it was getting more and more popular, probably aiming to build a platform for future SC2 broadcasts, leagues etc, they were shut down by decision of the majority KeSPA teams to not participate in GOM.
As said by artosis in a recent interview - it's a dead end with a lot of money at stake.
I covered all this in three KeSPA/Blizzard articles on GG.net
Another thing that's important is that Blizzard did absolutely nothing for StarCraft in terms of it's promotion and huge Korean and e-Sports success. They've even stopped supporting it after WC3 came out. It was KeSPA (at the time KPGA) who built the billion dollar industry of Korean StarCraft gaming and broadcasting.
On the other hand you have to realize that StarCraft broadcast is immensely profitable in Korea, be it on OGN, MBC, GOM, whatever. It costs next to nothing to create a 2+ hour broadcast that beats everything in 18-34 ratings - the most valued by advertisers. The costs are so low they can be only compared with a cheap-ass 30min/week game show, rather than 15hr/week of StarCraft broadcasts.
In US Blizzard would be entitled to a huge amount of royalties payments, in Korea it's enough to own a legal copy of the game to broadcast. Blizzard already tried to deal with relevant Korean authorities, but they were sent to "deal with KeSPA". They also tried to deal with MBC/OGN separately, failed there as well. But, and it's a big but, they can't broadcast games played over the web, i.e. on Battle.net, as it requires a completely different international license, which they won't get. Since there's no Lan - no broadcasts for now.
KeSPA answered by killing GOM. Blizzard was heavily sponsoring it, as it was getting more and more popular, probably aiming to build a platform for future SC2 broadcasts, leagues etc, they were shut down by decision of the majority KeSPA teams to not participate in GOM.
As said by artosis in a recent interview - it's a dead end with a lot of money at stake.
I covered all this in three KeSPA/Blizzard articles on GG.net
Another thing that's important is that Blizzard did absolutely nothing for StarCraft in terms of it's promotion and huge Korean and e-Sports success. They've even stopped supporting it after WC3 came out. It was KeSPA (at the time KPGA) who built the billion dollar industry of Korean StarCraft gaming and broadcasting.
On the other hand you have to realize that StarCraft broadcast is immensely profitable in Korea, be it on OGN, MBC, GOM, whatever. It costs next to nothing to create a 2+ hour broadcast that beats everything in 18-34 ratings - the most valued by advertisers. The costs are so low they can be only compared with a cheap-ass 30min/week game show, rather than 15hr/week of StarCraft broadcasts.
Also:
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On February 22 2010 03:44 MorroW wrote:
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On February 22 2010 02:54 Kennigit wrote:
On February 22 2010 02:49 Qikz wrote:
Why doesn't Blizzard hire another broadcasting company in Korea and allow them to broadcast the games for a nominal fee which is only fair.
.
This is what GOM tried to do.
speaking of GOM why did it stop? i loved watching that and progamers played it and it was great quality and website
why cant u do like this?
KESPA killed it because it was being sponsored by Blizzard. They banned all the teams from participating in it. It was very sad because it did so much for e-sports. This was one of the battles in this ongoing war.
If Kespa is supposed to be all about Korean e-sports don't you think they should SUPPORT more e-sports and more tournaments?
Show nested quote +
On February 22 2010 02:54 Kennigit wrote:
On February 22 2010 02:49 Qikz wrote:
Why doesn't Blizzard hire another broadcasting company in Korea and allow them to broadcast the games for a nominal fee which is only fair.
.
This is what GOM tried to do.
speaking of GOM why did it stop? i loved watching that and progamers played it and it was great quality and website
why cant u do like this?
KESPA killed it because it was being sponsored by Blizzard. They banned all the teams from participating in it. It was very sad because it did so much for e-sports. This was one of the battles in this ongoing war.
If Kespa is supposed to be all about Korean e-sports don't you think they should SUPPORT more e-sports and more tournaments?
Poll Question:
Do you agree with Kespa's decision to kill the GOMtv tournament sponsored by Blizzard by preventing Koreans progamers from participating in non Kespa events?
Poll: See above
No - Progamers should be allowed to play in any tournament they wish (134)
88%
Yes - Kespa should be allowed to block progamers from Blizzard tournys (18)
12%
152 total votes
Yes - Kespa should be allowed to block progamers from Blizzard tournys (18)
152 total votes
Your vote: See above
(Vote): Yes - Kespa should be allowed to block progamers from Blizzard tournys
(Vote): No - Progamers should be allowed to play in any tournament they wish
