LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. movie theater chain National Amusements Inc. is bringing a live video gaming tournament sponsored by Rupert Murdoch-controlled companies to a Los Angeles theater this weekend in a first for an industry seeking new ways to fill empty seats.
National Amusements would be the first U.S. theater chain to tap into the $30 billion global video game market by staging a type of gaming that is enormously popular in Asia.
The tournament, held by the newly formed Championship Gaming Series (CGS) professional league, aims to qualify gamers for its first draft of professional video gaming teams.
The league is sponsored by DirecTV Group Inc., British satellite group BSkyB and STAR in Asia and Australia. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. owns almost 40 percent of satellite broadcasters DirecTV and BSkyB and STAR is a wholly-owned unit of News Corp
National Amusements, the parent company of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., has been among the most experimental chains in finding uses for its more than 1,500 U.S. and overseas screens when movies aren't playing.
The chain brought live baseball games to East Coast theaters starting with the 2001 World Series, and has offered live entertainment including standup comedy, vaudeville-style shows and music at its theaters.
"One of the things I'm trying to do is really have niche demographic programming. I think we can no longer look at moviegoing as a generic experience," Redstone said.
source: http://www.reuters.com
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