China Media Group, VSPO, and Esports World Cup Foundation Sign New Deal

China Media Group, VSPO, and Esports World Cup Foundation sign MOU. Credit: VSPO

The Esports World Cup Foundation, China Media Group’s National Institute for Esports Development (NIED), and Chinese tournament operator VSPO announced Monday that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the New Global Sport Conference.

The agreement was signed at a formal signing ceremony on Aug. 25 (at the New Global Sport Conference), and was attended by Esports World Cup Foundation Chief Product Officer Faisal Bin Homran, Director of the Youth Sports Program Center of China Media Group and Executive Vice President of NIED  Xu Qiang, and VSPO CEO Dino Ying.

The agreement calls for all three organizations to collaborate on a number of initiatives within Mainland China including “esports event broadcasting on CCTV, the application of cutting-edge technologies, market expansion, and the promotion of event content,” according to a release.

In July, China Media Group (CMG), the Esports World Cup Foundation, and VSPO announced a strategic cooperation agreement at the launch of the new China Media Group National Institute for Esports Development in Beijing—CMG operates the National Institute for Esports Development. That launch ceremony was attended by Shen Haixiong, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and president of CMG; Sun Shuo, CPC Secretary of Xicheng District and Xue Jijun, head of the institute; and other government officials. 

At around the same time, it was announced that Esports World Cup broadcasts would be made available to Chinese viewers through CCTV+, which was odd, because that network is to proliferate state-friendly news and commentary to people outside of China, not within the country. That is because CCTV+ is not available in Mainland China on state-owned (CCTV) broadcast TV there, nor is there any noticeable EWC content on its YouTube channel or website. 

Further, and most important of all, China’s 2005 Broadcasting Law prohibits the broadcasting of esports on its mainland national TV network, and games that are not approved in China (Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, Call of Duty, etc.) can not be shown on streaming at all in principle.

China Media Group (CMG) does in fact operate state television networks including CCTV, but the 2005 law remains in place and in force, as far as we know. 

The Esports Advocate reached out to VSPO CEO Dino Ying in July asking for a clarification on its previous deal with the Esports World Cup Foundation and with China Media Group (he did not respond, as of this writing). TEA also reached out to Ying on Tuesday to ask again for clarification, but he did not respond, as of this writing.

A majority of those who did watch the Esports World Cup from July 3 – Aug. 25 in mainland China did so on Chinese streaming platforms such as Huya, DouYu, and ByteDance-owned TikTok equivalent in China, Douyin.

In February 2023, the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested approximately $265M USD in VSPO. Tencent, one of the biggest entertainment companies in China, also has investments in VSPO.