SPOTV is a South Korean
pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
network, which features
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
programming and some sports-related talk shows. Founded in 2010, the network is the fourth non-'
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
' broadcaster in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
alongside
KBS N Sports,
MBC Sports+
MBC Sports+ (MBC 스포츠+, 엠비씨 스포츠 플러스) is a South Korean pay television network, which is well known for its sports broadcasting.
Contents
This is one of the Korean pay television channels that specialise in broadcasting sp ...
and
SBS Sports
SBS Sports is a South Korean pay television sports channel that broadcasts major sports events including the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and professional sports in Korea such as baseball and volleyball. It also broadcasts the Ligue 1, boxing matches ...
(the latter two of which were previously founded under a joint venture with
ESPN International
ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Operating regions
Latin America
Spanish-speaking countries
* E ...
in the early 2000s and 2010s respectively).
On December 1, 2015, ''
The Daily Dot
''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown ...
'' reported that SPOTV may be acquiring the rights to broadcast
League of Legends Champions Korea
''League of Legends'' Champions Korea (LCK) is the primary competition for ''League of Legends'' esports in South Korea. Contested by ten teams, the league runs two seasons per year and serves as a direct route to qualification for the annual ...
from
OnGameNet
OGN (formerly known as Ongamenet) is a South Korean pay television channel that specialized in broadcasting video game-related content and esports matches, particularly ''StarCraft'', ''Starcraft II'', ''League of Legends'', and Overwatch. OGN ran ...
(now called as OGN) for its sister channel
SPOTV Games, which mostly aired eSports tournaments, before it was rebranded as STATV in March 2020, which focus on athletes and celebrities. They also got SPOTV ON, which aired sports that didn't usually air on SPOTV & SPOTV2, along with SPOTV NOW, a sports-dedicated streaming service similar to
DAZN
DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet.
The ...
and
ESPN+
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. They also got
SPOTV Golf & Health, for golf and eellness, as the channel previously founded as its additional in-house channel SPOTV+.
In May 2020, the U.S. television network
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
began showing
Korea Baseball Organization
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...
games with video feed from SPOTV following
the lack of live sports programming in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
due to the pandemic.
On September 14, 2021, Eclat Entertainment announced that they will bring SPOTV to 13 Southeast Asian countries. SPOTV will take over the role of recently closed
Fox Sports Asia
Fox Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Sta ...
in those countries, awhile to promoting other sporting events which has been aired in the respective Asian countries.
SPOTV were also responsible to covering the remaining
2021 MotoGP World Championship
file:Valentino Rossi 2017.jpg, upright=0.7, Valentino Rossi retired at the end of the season after a 26-year career.
The 2021 FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 73rd Fédération Internatio ...
where Fox Sports abruptly concluding the coverage following the shutdown announcement.
Notes
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.spotv.net
2010 establishments in South Korea
Companies based in Seoul
Television networks in South Korea
Television channels and stations established in 2010
Esports television