According to reports from Ben Fischer and confirmed by ESPN, the 2019 Overwatch League season will air on Disney's family of networks, including ESPN, ABC and Disney XD.
Specifically, the semis and finals for the first 2 stages of the season, and the All-Star Game, will air on ABC. ESPN2 will carry stage 3 finals, and Disney XD will air 3 games weekly, 1 on Thursdays and 2 on Sundays. That's it for linear.
— Ben Fischer (@BenFischerSBJ) February 7, 2019
Season 2 of the @overwatchleague will once again air on the ESPN app, with three games a week airing on @DisneyXD, the Stage 1 and 2 finals on ABC and the Stage 3 finals on ESPN2 with more announcements to come:https://t.co/F22kiTfIHT pic.twitter.com/Nyy04tmN1y
— ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) February 7, 2019
The full ESPN report gives more details about what broadcast stations will air Overwatch League matches. They are as follows:
- All matches will be available to view on the ESPN app.
- Three matches per week will be broadcast on Disney XD, with the the final match each Thursday beginning at 11:30 p.m. Eastern along with the first two matches every Sunday starting at 3 p.m Eastern.
- The semifinals and finals for Stages 1 and 2 as well as the All-Star Game will air on ABC.
- ESPN 2 will broadcast the Stage 3 finals.
- The broadcast schedules for Homestand Weekends, season playoffs and the finals will be announced at a later date.
All matches throughout the season will be broadcast on Twitch. The Overwatch League and Twitch are on the second year of a two-year deal that guaranteed Twitch and Major League Gaming -- a streaming platform owned by Activision Blizzard -- would have exclusive streaming rights to the Overwatch League.
Currently, a preseason Community Countdown is underway featuring a number of Overwatch streamers, including ZP Jayne, and ChanmanV.
The regular season of the Overwatch League play begins on February 14.
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