ESV TV Korean Weekly Season 3 - $5000+

This season will see a change in the viewing structure from previous seasons. We will now be offering a different more rewarding subscription service than previously. Here is a brief overview:



As you can see, unlike the previous two season of the Korean Weekly, live HD broadcasts will be offered only to subscribers. We strongly feel that for the Korean Weekly to continue to grow this will be one of the tools to help it keep getting larger and larger every season. Knowing that quality is important for such a visual game like Starcraft II, we will strive to make sure that our broadcasts are the best possible quality for all viewers, even those on 480p or below.

However we know that not all people are in the situation to pay for such a model, so that's why all HD VOD's will be released to all viewers, subscribers or not. Subscribers will receive the added benefit of quicker VOD access as well as many other great perks!


Past seasons of the Korean Weekly have seen different methods of releasing replays to the public, as not all games are broadcast. Releasing them all right away led to some Code S players shying away from the Korean Weekly, and using a consent based approach with the players led to no replays being released but more Code S players. I believe we have found a perfect middle ground.

Replays of all matches will be released to subscribers of ESV TV, even for the first time ever games that were broadcasted on ESV TV! However for active Code S players, the replays will be withheld while they are in an active season of Code S, until they either win the tournament, get eliminated, or fall in the up and down matches to Code A. At the point where any of the above happens, the replays of the player from any previous Korean Weekly tournaments they were in will be released with the next replay pack. This way you get every single replay of the tournament to dissect and Code S players can enter knowing their builds and replays will be safe while they are still aiming for that top prize in GSL!



Sick and tired of ads in streams? So are we! That's why we are offering no commercial interruptions for our subscribers. Never run for the mute button again from a rogue speaker breaking ad, just sit back and enjoy games from the top Koreans!



In Season 2 of the Korean Weekly we received record viewerships on each and every broadcast. With great viewership comes a very crowded chat room where holding any sort of a conversation gets very difficult. Season 3 will have tighter chat controls, with subscriber only chat enabled any time the viewer count increases past 4,000 viewers, and even less if needed. Having a fun and constructive chat room is one of the things that is what makes watching streams so great, and we will strive to offer you the best experience possible.


Yes it's a Space Shark, yes it's awesome, and you will feel awesome showing off your Shark for all to see!

Several aspects of how we ran the Korean Weekly in the past will be changed this season to generate more consistent and exciting play.


No more will there be your favorite player eliminated in a Best of 1, this season all rounds will be Best of 3 or higher. Semi-Finals will remain Best of 5, and the Finals will remain Best of 7.


There will be some changes to how players qualify for the Grand Prix. Previously four players from each weekly were chosen by top placing. However with many players qualifying multiple times, there came weird scenarios where someone would take a very low place and make it in off it. So for this season qualification is points based. Scoring a first or second place in a Weekly will net you enough points to guarantee you are qualified for the Grand Prix #2. Netting an invite will do the same.

In addition 12 more players will be seeded into the Grand Prix based on the points ranking. Players will gain and lose points based on performance, and players that do consistently well will be rewarded for such skill. While this is a bit more complicated system, as a tournament organizer I feel this will offer a better player base for the Grand Prix #2.

There will be four invite only players in the ESV TV Grand Prix #2, with two of the players already established. Winner of the ESV TV Korean Weekly Finals #3, ST.Squirtle will join the newest recruit of Team Liquid and winner of the ESV TV/Twitch TV Grand Prix #1, Liquid`Taeja as two of the invited players for their impressive performances in previous events! Both came into the Korean Weekly not even in Code A, and now both are top Code S players in the GSL, and will be a scary foe for any opponent they cross!


This will be the first full length season of the Korean Weekly, with eight weeks of competition leading into the ESV TV Grand Prix #2. The full season length will last for three months, and promises to be action packed from start to finish!


Yes English rebroadcasts are coming for our EU viewers! We have a dedicated streaming machine for them now, and expect to not have to stay up to an ungodly hour to watch this tournament. The exact time of the rebroadcasts is yet unknown, so if you have any suggestions, leave them in this thread (don't forget what time zone you are in)!


Due to the changes of the map pool (listed below) we will now be having a map veto system in place of a fixed pool. This should offer a more dynamic tournament environment. Each player will receive one veto in a best of three.


Due to the massive shifts lately in map pools, and particular ESV maps on the Blizzard ladder and in nearly every tournament, this season will very likely be featuring mainly if not all ESV maps. With favorites such as Cloud Kingdom and new guns such as Ohana, due to our unique map pool featuring only five maps, there is enough of our maps being practiced by the Koreans pros to make this happen.

Also for the first time ever we will be opening voting to the public on which two maps in our candidate pool you would like to see in the upcoming weeks of the Korean Weekly. I present you the four candidate maps, two of which will be chosen to be played by the best of the best.














So please let us know what you think about the maps, and which maps you think would be the best in this great tournament! The public poll will be for purposes of showing what the fans like only, and in the end the maps will be chosen by myself. All four maps are so strong knowing one is wanted by the public would help to tip the scales in favor of that map so your voice will be heard!

As you can see this is the most major set of changes we have ever made to the Korean Weekly in its history. Every change I and ESV TV make however is only to do what we can to make this tournament the best it can be and to keep providing the high quality of games that our fans have come and know to expect.

Doing without a major sponsor for this season as opposed to previous one did help move along some of these changes, but most of them have been in the works for a long time, or were a long term goal. In Season 2 the Korean Weekly set itself in a different league than all other online tournaments, offering the smallest overall prize pool of the major online circuits, but the highest average quality of game out of any with ever improving production and record viewership.

Being a small company without millions in funding from investors that competes with the companies that do sets us a step up above most of the rest, and we will continue each and every week to find ways to improve this tournament, from the map pool, to the new subscription model. I understand some fans may be upset about the subscription model, but increasing what is at stake for the prize pool is good for everyone from the players all the way down to the fan that knows that these players are giving it their all in every game.

I hope that our fans will like the changes, and I think the price point for the new subscription model is fair as can be, with it only costing you a bit over $3 USD a month to get access to quite a bit of content and replays, should not be a bank breaker for most.

As always I appreciate and welcome your feedback and constructive criticism, and will make sure your voice does not go unheard. Thank you all for your support of the Korean Weekly in Season 1 and 2, and here is to what should be a fantastic Season 3!

Patrick F Soulliere II
ESV.Diamond
ESV TV - Owner/CEO