Business Corpus: Activision Signs Esports Broadcast Deal With Disney For Overwatch LeagueVideo game publisher Activision Blizzard on Wednesday signed a deal with Walt Disney to broadcast Overwatch League esports matches on the ESPN and Disney XD cable channels. The post Activision Signs Esports Broadcast Deal With Disney For Overwatch League appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Video game publisher Activision Blizzard (ATVI) on Wednesday signed a deal with Walt Disney (DIS) to broadcast Overwatch League esports matches on the ESPN and Disney XD cable channels.

The multiyear deal for live coverage of the Overwatch League will begin July 11 with the start of playoffs for inaugural season of the city-based esports league. The finals will take place July 27 and 28 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"The Overwatch League Grand Finals is by far our most comprehensive television distribution for an esports event over a single weekend: 10 total hours over four networks and three days," said Justin Connolly, a marketing vice president for Disney and ESPN Media Networks, in a news release. The finals will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and Disney XD. A highlights recap also will air on ABC. ESPN and Disney network subscribers also will be able to stream the matches live on the ESPN App and DisneyNow.

The first team to win two best-of-five matches at Barclays Center will take home the Overwatch League trophy. It also gets the lion's share of the $1.4 million Grand Finals prize pool. The esports league was built around the popular video game "Overwatch" from Activision's Blizzard Entertainment division.

Activision Gets Price-Target Hike

Activision shares rose 3.2% to close at 78.61 on the stock market today. The stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base and buy point of 73.60 on June 4.

Also Wednesday, investment bank Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on Activision stock and raised its price target to 80 from 75.

"We see 2018 being driven by 1) Strong performance from 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,' 2) Blizzard's 'Overwatch,' 3) 'World of Warcraft' expansion, and 4) Continued strong 'Candy Crush' performance, and new titles at King," the firm said in a report to clients.

Video Game Stocks Seen As Potential Media Company Acquisition Targets

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