Las Vegas - Satellite TV provider DirecTV on Tuesday announced plans to launch the Championship Gaming Series (CGS), an international video gaming league that will broadcast to over 100 million homes beginning in the spring of 2007.

Originally announced last year, the league's events will be broadcast in the U.S. on DirecTV, as well as in the U.K. (BSkyB), Asia (STAR Asia), Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Online coverage of the league, which will award over $1 million in prize money, will be handled by Fox Interactive Media's IGN Entertainment.

"We couldn't help but notice that gaming had actually become a sport," said DirecTV Entertainment president David Hill. "Not only in the way the gamers created teams to compete, but also in their conditioning and mind set and dedication while playing. So it wasn't a quantum leap to then determine if it was becoming a sport, we should cover it like a sport."

Team members who qualify for the CGS will be drafted by franchises led by salaried general managers, and themselves be paid salaries as full-time pro gamers. DirecTV said it signed gaming legend Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel as global league spokesperson and advisor, who will also provide exclusive play-by-play commentary at events.

Other similar leagues and competitions that have cropped up in recent years with the growing popularity of competitive gaming include Major League Gaming, the Global Gaming League, Cyberathlete Professional League and World Series of Video Games.

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