StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 – Official Community Broadcast Guidelines

Greetings, creators! 
Thank you for your interest in covering the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 as a community caster!
At StarLadder, we believe that memorable CS moments are worth sharing, and we appreciate the community adding its own voice, energy, and creativity to this Major.
Please take your time to familiarise yourself with our Official Community Broadcast Guidelines. These rules exist to keep things fair, respectful, and in line with Valve’s global community standards.

Official Community Broadcast Guidelines

Category 1: Community (Non-Commercial) Broadcasting (no licence needed)

You fall under this category if your stream and channel:
Is free to access (viewers don’t pay to watch) and is non-commercial, meaning no active sponsorships, brand placements, or paid partnerships related to your broadcast.
For clarity: revenue from normal platform features like ads, subscriptions, donations is okay during the Major (November 24 - December 14).

Before going live with your StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 content, make sure you follow these rules: 

1. Use the official CSTV feed for all in-game content.
Re-streaming or producing content over official broadcast feeds, including video overlays, rebroadcasts, or captured studio streams, is strictly prohibited. The CSTV feed will include a 180-second delay from the official Twitch broadcast, you don’t need to apply any additional delay in your streaming setup.

2. Keep your stream home-based.
Community broadcasts must be done from personal setups, not from studios. Any studio-style space, multi-caster or production-level broadcast (replays, highlights, customised HUDs, score bars, etc) is considered commercial and not allowed under community terms.

3. Stay non-commercial.
You may not monetise your coverage or charge others to view any of the Starladder Budapest Major content under any circumstances. You may not feature any sponsors, logo, brand placements, or visual advertising (anywhere, including but not limited to overlays, panels or descriptions).

4. Stay on topic.
All coverage must remain focused on the event and its esports context. Commentary, visuals, or messaging related to social, economic, political, environmental, and activism topics are strictly prohibited throughout your StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 stream.

5. Maintain a good standing in the CS community.
StarLadder reserves the right to disallow participation if prior conduct, behaviour, or reputation conflicts with fair community standards.

6. Create a welcoming stream environment.
If you’re running chat or live interactions, make sure they’re actively moderated and welcoming; everyone should feel safe and enjoy being part of your stream.

7. Respect Valve’s ban list.
Anyone currently banned by Valve may not appear in your stream in any form: visual, audio, or otherwise. You can find the full list on Valve Banned Players page.

8. Ensure independent presentation.
Your stream must be clearly and independently produced. Please ensure it is not presented as originating from, affiliated with, or representing StarLadder, Valve, StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, any of our sponsors, partners and licensed regional streams or any associated entities. All views and opinions expressed are entirely your own.

9. Naming format
Please title your broadcast as follows:
StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 → [Stage] → [Team 1] vs [Team 2]
Example: StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 - Playoffs - Team X vs Team Y

10. Failure to comply with the Community (Non-Commercial) Broadcasting rules may result in an immediate ban.

Category 2: Co-Streaming Broadcasting

You fall under this category if you have obtained an official streaming licence from StarLadder for the Budapest Major.

If you do not have such a licence, all commercial or studio-style broadcasts, online or not, are prohibited. 
If you wish to co-stream, or to inquire about obtaining a streaming licence, please reach out directly to [email protected]

Please provide details in following format: 

• - Full Name.
• - Channel Name.
• - Platform(s) and Link(s).
• - Language.
• - Short summary of your coverage plans, data, or previous event experience.

We review all submissions and will follow up with additional details if your application qualifies.
Note: Employees and freelance contractors of commercial broadcast partners are not permitted to stream, co-stream, or otherwise participate in Community Coverage, whether through personal, public, or private channels.

StarLadder reserves the right to update or amend these guidelines at any time.

Thank you once again for being part of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.
Your passion is what keeps Counter-Strike thriving!