PGS hits out at own3D.tv

The ProGamerSeries (PGS) organisers have issued a statement to explain the reason own3d.tv did not broadcast the event.

According to PGS, a deal had been reached with own3d.tv to cover the entire event, but on Tuesday, two days before the start of the tournaments, the streaming company stated that it could only find English casters on Saturday and Sunday.

However, PGS claim that all efforts to contact own3d.tv on Saturday proved fruitless, as the company allegedly did not reply to emails, nor did they answer the phone.

Late on Saturday, PGS were able to get in touch with a member of own3d.tv and were promised that there would be stream coverage of the last day of the event, but as the match between place2play.ru and Anexis kicked off, own3d.tv were unreachable once again.

"PGS would like to inform that own3D TV did not honour the patnership that had been established with the PGS organisation when it comes to supplying a streaming service," a statement from PGS read.

"PGS would like to lament to the Portuguese and international gaming communities what happened, but it is not our fault."

With own3d.tv not broadcasting the matches, PGS were able to quickly work out a deal with GreatFrag.com, who will be covering the rest of the event.

HLTV.org reached out to own3d.tv for a reaction to PGS' statement, with the streaming company stressing that they refuse to be held accountable for this situation.

"It's unfortunate to read this statement from our client as a great deal of time was invested trying to assist with the successful execution of the event despite ever moving goalposts and a lack of information," Stuart Saw, Director of Content & Strategy at own3d.tv told HLTV.org.

"PGS are obviously disappointed with their event but unfortunately we cannot accept responsibility for the end result. We are staunch supporters of CS and eSports and we sponsor and support an innumerable amount of events without issue and will continue to do so.

"We're sorry to those viewers who've been left disappointed but it was not for lack of trying on our part."

According to own3d.tv, they had arranged for an English-speaking caster to cover the Counter-Strike games, but this person simply did not show up to do the job without giving an explanation. They also point out that this was the only caster available for PGS, due to the fact that the other casters have been busy with the ESWC and the THOR Open qualifiers or were simply were not interested in covering the event.

own3d.tv further states that PGS' stream has been available on its platform throughout the entire event and that the only thing that failed was the fact that the caster did not show up. They also reiterate that PGS' own3D contact was always available and willing to communicate.

Founded in 2009, Vienna-based own3d.tv is one of the biggest livestreaming companies in the world, providing players and teams from dozens of different games with the platform to stream their matches live.