ESL has "inked a partnership" with former Fox Sports Chair David Hill to give its e-sports competitions "television-style production values," according to Todd Spangler of VARIETY. Hill will "work exclusively with ESL on special projects with select game publishers and sponsors to develop" premium e-sports events through Hilly, the production unit he established in '15. Hill’s first orders of business will be "training ESL production teams on TV best practices and recruiting and grooming star-caliber" e-sports announcers. Hill: “We’re going to find gaming’s answer to Joe Buck and Terry Bradshaw." ESL currently "produces 20,000-plus hours" of e-sports programming per year. But much of ESL’s content, which is "streamed on Twitch and other platforms, has been comparatively amateurish to date." Hill: “We’re going to make gaming (TV) network-ready, because we firmly believe the next big thing in entertainment is video gaming.” ESL "will employ Hill" for its larger-budget e-sports tourneys. Hill said that the company also is "considering launching a pay-per-view model for its biggest events, though those details still need to be worked out" (VARIETY.com, 2/1).
