Chinese live-streaming platform Huya has signed its first deal with a Western esports team, gaining the rights in the country to stream the content of Dutch multi-genre outfit Team Liquid.
The partnership is reportedly for one year and will cover Team Liquid’s matches across major competitions such as League of Legends, Apex Legends and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Huya will exploit its Restream platform for Team Liquid’s matches, which the Chinese business has said will limit delays to just six seconds.
In a statement on its website, Team Liquid said this was “the largest collaboration in esports between a Chinese content platform and a Western organization” ever completed.
Huya has secured significant funding in the last 18 months after floating on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2018. The IPO came just two months after Huya’s parent company and fellow Chinese tech business YY entered into an agreement with Chinese media giant Tencent. This agreement is part of YY’s series B equity financing deal with Tencent.
That deal saw YY retain control of Huya for the time being, though Tencent can purchase 50.1 per cent of shares Huya shares between the 2nd and 3rd anniversaries of deal’s signing.