TBS to air four-part TI7 documentary series

Turner Broadcasting announced on Tuesday a brand new four-episode series that focuses on the teams and players surrounding Dota 2’s The International 7, titled “ELEAGUE: Road to The International Dota 2 Championship.”

The first episode on August 5th will focus on the players’ training and preparation for TI7. The remainder of the one-hour series will center on the drama and experiences the players have during the tournament, leading up to the conclusion on Friday, August 25th.

The special event will be prefaced with a showing of “Free To Play,” Valve’s Dota 2 documentary, on July 28th. This film focuses on three players preparing for the first The International in 2011. The documentary will be broadcast on TBS and will also feature commentary from well-known Dota 2 shoutcaster Tobi “TobiWan” Dawson, along with ELEAGUE personality and host Richard Lewis.

An initial trailer featuring Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho, an American player for CompLexity, has been released by ELeague:

This isn’t the first esports related production for Turner Broadcasting, whose esports branch, ELEAGUE runs seasonal tournaments in both fighting games and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, also broadcast on TBS. This is, however, Turner’s first attempt to expand into narrative programming related to esports.

“Road to The International Dota 2 Championships” will debut on Friday, August 4 at 10 p.m. ET, and will have a new episode every Friday leading up to the finale on August 25. It will be aired exclusively on TBS’s channel, and not Twitch nor YouTube as ELeague tournaments have in the past.