Telefónica  announced today that its commercial brand in Spain, Movistar, will integrate electronic games into the core of its strategy regarding the sporting world and content. This decision arises from the Company’s leadership and cutting-edge technology, and will rely on the best Fibre and 4G communications infrastructure to raise the bar for eSports in Spain.

To achieve this, Telefónica España has signed a strategic agreement with ESL, the largest eSports company in the world, and will develop a platform with exclusive content for Movistar+ and the digital environment, while also creating a professional club for electronic sports.

These eSports share the same values regarding training, commitment, improvement and teamwork as other more conventional sports disciplines, and that is why Movistar has welcomed them as the next step in its practice of providing unconditional support to sports through various different sponsorship programs.

For years Movistar has collaborated with large-scale eSports events -creating LAN parties and providing the best quality fibre connection to top competitions-, and it has now decided to develop and encourage eSports in Spain, thereby becoming one of its main protagonists.

Luis Miguel Gilpérez, president of Telefónica España, has presented the three major milestones that the company will work to achieve in order to meet this goal. “This will create an electronic gaming ecosystem in the country which, in addition to the very best telecommunications networks, will position Telefónica and its Movistar brand at the epicentre of this mass phenomenon that young people are joining with unbridled enthusiasm. We want to do our part for eSports, which we believe is the “sport of the 21st century”

Strategic agreement with ESL

The goal of the alliance between Telefónica and ESL is to strengthen the current momentum of electronic gaming throughout Spain. Both entities will offer their full potential to promote both Amateur & Professional competitions in Spain and to attract the very best national and international talent, while also planning activities and programs for all levels of competition.

Additionally, the agreement includes localisation into Spanish and customisation by sector experts of major international ESL competitions in Spain with Movistar+. Movistar will also have a presence at major gaming shows ans eSports events associated with ESL Arena and ESL Expo.

Gilpérez pointed out that “Movistar will provide eSports with the very best fibre connectivity, a key aspect for an optimal gaming experience. From now on, the agreement with ESL will enable us to follow new eSport talents, who we hope to help achieve their dreams, just as we have done up to now with our commitment to other sports”.

Content platform

The content creation platform, the second foundational pillar of Movistar’s commitment to electronic gaming, will be advertised on all channels: digital media, social networks and television. In this way Movistar+ will incorporate programming with eSports content into its current sports offering, providing fans with an unrivalled showcase to enjoy and experience the excitement of this discipline in an unprecedented manner in Spain.

Movistar eSports (on dial 29, within the IPTV and DTS platforms), will offer the sports’ biggest matches such as ESL ONE, ESL INTEL EXTREME, ESL MASTERS SERIES. Each of the 13 tournaments scheduled for 2017 will offer up to 25 hours live broadcast, customisable by language. Additionally, exclusive content generated at the Riders’ high-performance centre, the Movistar Game Center, will be available with daily team tracking.

On Movistar Deportes 1 (Dial 55) and Movistar Deportes 2 (Dial 56) fans will be able to enjoy specific timeslots of eSports content. Likewise, channel #0 (dial 7), the platform’s largest window that reaches up to 4 million homes, will provide space for the latest news and updates from the eSports world on the daily programme Minuto #0.

Movistar Stadium will broadcast a weekly magazine. To discover more about the day-to-day lives of the professionals, some 20 features will be created for some of the best players at the national level, in addition to 10 specials on the season’s most memorable moments and other reports dedicated to the Top 10 world ranked players.

Meanwhile, in line with current demand, Movistar will create a digital platform to guarantee fans at all times a space on the Internet where they can check the latest updates and programme scheduling. In this space they can enjoy audiovisual content, purchase their favourite games, participate in competitions and take advantage of benefits, discounts, etc.

These eSports are the sport of the 21st century, as can be seen in the exponential audience growth in the past year, throughout which the sport has reached a total of some 293 million fans and occasional followers, with a growth outlook of up to 490 million over the next three years. Movistar, as a brand, once again decides to “choose it all” and sides with this new digital phenomenon.

Club Movistar Riders 

Simultaneously, Movistar has also created Movistar Riders, an eSports club made up of various professional video game teams, in which gifted young players of these electronic sports will able to develop their sports careers by receiving both technical support and physical training, mimicking the model of the world’s greatest sports clubs in other sporting disciplines.

The club will have a physical headquarters, the Movistar Gaming Center, a true high-performance centre that, in addition to serving as the training site for the Movistar Riders teams, will also be a meeting ground for professionals, players and fans.

Movistar Riders will be structured like a professional sports club and will start out with five teams which will début the official club kit for the following games: Overwatch, Hearthstone, Counter Strike:Global Offensive, Call Of Duty and League Of Legends.

Honor, a smartphone brand from Huawei  aimed at digital natives, will be the official partner of Movistar Riders.