 World
Poker Tour Homeless
The
World Poker Tour and
GSN have
agreed not to
continue their
broadcast
partnership starting
next season.
In essence, this
means that the WPT
is without a home.
Probably not for
long though!
When the World Poker
Tour first started
airing on the Travel
Channel a few years
back, it became that
cable network's
highest rated
program and opened
the door to a whole
slew of poke
programming that can
be watched on
virtually every
cable network - in
particular ESPN with
their coverage of
the World Series of
Poker.
Last week’s WPT
episode that aired
on GSN, the WPT
Spanish Championship
won by Markus
Lehmann, logged a
0.57 rating, the
best yet for any the
poker tournament’s
episodes that have
aired on GSN.
Peter Hughes, the
Chief Operating
Officer of the World
Poker Tour, told
PocketFives.com
in an exclusive
interview:
“World Poker Tour
programming has been
trending upwards for
the past five weeks.
We’re encouraged by
our ratings.” Hughes
stopped short of
saying that WPT was
“shocked” by the
news, but the
company is now
actively seeking
other suitors:
“We’ll move on it
swiftly as we can. I
don’t have any
specific timeline
right now, but we’re
working on it.”
PocketFives also
offered the
following assessment
on the possible
future airings of
the World Poker
Tour, and they are
some good one's:
Possible
suitors for the WPT
would include ESPN,
NBC (which airs
Poker After Dark and
the Heads Up
Championship), Fox
Sports, and even The
Travel Channel.
Hughes comments on
the relationship
with the network
that was once the
home for new WPT
episodes: “The
Travel Channel is
still broadcasting
our shows. We still
have a relationship
with them. Everyone
we’ve spoken to is
interested in the
show. We just need
to find the right
partner.” When asked
if World Series of
Poker Programming
airing on ESPN would
cause any problems
for the network
being open to
carrying the WPT,
Hughes responded,
“From our
standpoint, no. I
can’t really say
from their
standpoint; they’ll
make their own
decision. The
Professional Poker
Tour was actually
slated to air on
ESPN originally.
There was an
appetite for
additional poker
programming on ESPN
besides the World
Series of Poker.”
A Reuters article
speculates about
reasons that GSN may
decide to move away
from poker
programming in the
new regime: “The
poker series are too
expensive, goes one
[rumor]. Goldhill
wants to steer GSN
away from his
predecessor's
interest in the
poker genre and
toward traditional
game shows, goes
another.”
The new season
begins filming July
11 at the Bellagio
in Las Vegas.
----
Ace King,
Gambling911.com
Originally
published June 12,
2008 10:17 am EST
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