Angel and Steven, first of all, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Secondly, congratulations on another step forward for e-sports. There’s certainly a very high level of curiosity about the partnership and what it means for the presentation of the CPL events on a major television network.

Our audience knows who Angel Munoz is, but you’re a new face for them, Steven. Could you take a few moments to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background?

Steven: It is tempting in this type of interview (with no pictures) to paint myself as a cool gamer, however, my kids told me that I could never pull it off once people met me in person so I guess I am better off setting the right expectations from the beginning. Just remember, Angel was once a corporate suit just like I am so maybe there is still hope! Any way, I was brought to DIRECTV over the past year during our transformation from a Hughes owned Satellite company to a News Corp owned entertainment company. Our focus on entertainment and original television programming is truly changing our business. I have been in the television, sports and entertainment (including gaming) industry for over 15 years. My focus at DIRECTV is to launch several gaming initiatives including the CGS and a Casual games business.

E-sports obviously has a lot of things going for it, with more and more of today’s youth playing games and competing in them. Angel, what do you think are the next steps that e-sports needs to take? Steven, what drew DirecTV’s attention to e-sports?

Angel: Like all sports in their nascent stages the biggest weakness afflicting e-sports is its growing fragmentation. Each event organizer seems to be vying for bragging rights, instead of concentrating their resources in building solid foundations and longevity for the sport. The future of the sport can only be secured via partnerships between the diverse event organizers.

At the risk of sounding like a braggart myself, I think that CPL has really been at the forefront of creating bridging partnerships for the sport this year. For example, our agreement with WSVG in reference to our summer event is the first of its type for the entire industry. Our licensing partnerships throughout the world are another example of our goal to unify the sport at a global level. And now we’ve added an unprecedented agreement with DirecTV, which is launching its own series of events in 2007. We think that instead of recoiling in fear, the CPL should welcome these new initiatives, and help create partnerships that will offer homogenous rules and policies to all event organizers worldwide.

Steven: What drew DIRECTV to esports is an opportunity to make a difference. We believe that with our sports production expertise, television distribution channel, media assets such as IGN and partnerships with Pepsi, Best Buy, Microsoft, the CPL and others that we have a unique opportunity to elevate esports to an entirely new level. The initial group that we have assembled (and more to come) is dedicated both emotionally and financially to build a structure for esports that provides the gaming community with a strong foundation for competition, compensation and aspiration.

We’ve heard that David Hill, former CEO of FOX Sports and a man who is often credited with making NASCAR interesting to watch, is heavily involved in this initiative at DirecTV. A key challenge for e-sports, or any sport for that matter, in the jump to mainstream television is making it accessible to the broader mainstream audience while still retaining its appeal to the hardcore fans. Steven, can you tell us a bit about David Hill’s involvement and can you both comment on what changes we might see, and how the two organizations will be working towards this balance?

Angel: DirecTV has spent countless hours analyzing e-sports and determining how to best present this new sport to television audiences. I'm privileged to have been part of some of these early discussions, but I'll let Steven share his views on this, as I'm not sure how many of those beans he wants to spill at this point. :)

Steven: David Hill is intimately involved in this project. In fact, he has been using games as his muse in sports broadcasting for many years. As a gamer himself, he understands the opportunities and limitations of making this sport scale in terms of a television audience. We will be using technology to bring the viewer into the game, as well as our finely tuned sensitivities to traditional sports broadcasting and applying it to esports. The gamers competing in our events will be treated as star athletes playing in arenas that will enhance not only their play but the viewing experience on site and on television. For example, we will have more cameras filming our first event than they do at an NBA playoff game.

Related to the above, GotFrag user, Alex Drummond would like to know: How will you market this to the average viewing audience? The big problem with televising an e-sports event is that it might seem "odd" to the current e-sports fans. How do you plan to get over this hump? I read that you will do interviews, and footage. What is the strategy for presenting, say Counter Strike, to Joe Schmo? Will you tone down the game (Special skins, non-terrorist models, competition visuals, etc., OR stock?)

Steven: Our first goal is to be true to the core gamer. Secondly, we will then turn our attention to broadening our audience. We will be utilizing media on multiple platforms to ensure the core gamer gets the information to be engaged. We will obviously personalize our footage with interviews and lifestyle pieces. However, the key will be making sure that Joe Schmo understands the game. For this, we will be borrowing from our expertise in broadcasting other sports programs and using virtual game cameras. Believe it or not, not everyone understood NASCAR until we cracked the code on that broadcast. We are committed to do the same for esports. Regarding toning down the game, we will not change the way the game is played in anyway. However, we will be sensitive to the graphic images on the screen. It is not in our interest to change the way that gamers exist today, we like that, our goal is to find the best way to get this message out to a larger audience.