World Poker Tour Moving to Fox Sports
Does PokerNews seem a bit angle-shootery in releasing info 20 minutes or so early?
You read it here second … as semi-suspected, the WPT is going to Fox Sports, following what appears to be the Full Tilt Infomercial/time-buy method … though that’s not made clear from the press release that PokerNews rewrote shortly before it was supposed to be released:
(And since we’re bound to be picking on taking a fair and thorough look at PokerNews these days, is it really protecting an inside source when you say the info comes from an unnamed source, yet you end with a quote from the CEO about the information that isn’t supposed to be public yet? Just curious how that works in poker “journalism” powered by “the independent online poker authority” … but all good, I’m all about gonzo fact-dissemination in the spirit of breaking-news-is-breaking-news, and will keep your laudable disregard for time restrictions in mind at next year’s WSOP.)
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL JULY 17 @ 4:00PM PT
FOX SPORTS NET AND WORLD POKER TOUR® INK BROADCAST LICENSE FOR SEASON VII
FSN Will Air 26 All-New WPT Season VII Episodes Across Its National Sports Network
(LOS ANGELES) July 17, 2008 – WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPTE) and Fox Sports Network (FSN) announced today a partnership and broadcast license for Season VII of the World Poker Tour® (WPT) television series. FSN, the nation’s leading provider of local sports, received exclusive rights to air 26 all-new one hour WPT episodes in the United States across its national sports cable network.
“The World Poker Tour has a track record as the ultimate brand name in televised poker,” said George Greenberg, FSN Executive Vice President of Programming and Production. “FSN is very happy to televise such quality content and we look forward to future programming opportunities with the WPT.”
WPT, which films its tournaments in premiere properties around North America, will create 26 one-hour episodes from upcoming regular-season events. WPT will shoot the first two episodes today at the Bellagio Cup final table in Las Vegas. FSN and WPT will announce the timeslot and schedule for the complete season broadcast at a later date.
“FSN and News Corporation are two incredible powerhouses in the television industry that have played key roles in the growth and popularity of televised poker,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT Founder, President and CEO. “It couldn’t be a better fit for WPT and our fans. We’re thrilled.”
WPT joins the ranks of MLB, NHL and NBA on the FSN network, which serves as the TV home to nearly two-thirds of all teams based in the United States. FSN’s 16 owned-and-operated regional networks and its affiliated networks reach more than 80 million homes across the U.S. FSN is owned and operated by News Corporation.
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Tinfoil Hat says:
July 17th, 2008 at 5:30pm
PokerNews didn’t violate the embargo in the least. The WPT offered “exclusives” to various news outlets only to keep pushing back the time at which the news could be posted. First it was 1pm, then it was 3:30 … then at 4:00 they decided it should be 4:30 … ish.
Some terrible work by their PR team IMO. Blaming the media outlets here is pointless, since most of them have had the story (and the official release) for at least 24 hours and were just waiting on word from a certain PR rep.
Haley says:
July 17th, 2008 at 5:48pm
Actually, we had the story yesterday, and were all set to go with it with the full knowledge and approval of our “unnamed sources” until I received word earlier today that a contract snafu caused a delay. So we backed it up until 3:30 PST, and I made it 3:40 PST just because I was working on other stuff.
I don’t even -have- a copy of the release with the embargo timestamp on it, just to set the record straight. Your accusation/inference/whatever is unfounded, Dan. Why jump to an erroneous conclusion in this manner?
Sincerely,
Haley Hintze
Managing Editor, PokerNews
Sincerely
DanM says:
July 17th, 2008 at 6:19pm
Haley, I’m just lashing out at you guys because I’m pissed you beat me to it! I thought I had this one in the bag and was going to be able to post it a half-hour before anyone else. Alas, being the
lazylittle guy, I suppose, I was way behind you and many other sources.As to the other jabs, they are clearly gratuitous. The write-up you and John did definitely provided more info than the press release did. But I did find it funny how it used a quote from a press release in a way that made it seem like Steve Lipscomb was your source that couldn’t be named up top.
But hey, you guys are the big boys now — and in successfully beating CardPlayer on so many levels, you also win the privilege of being picked apart by people like yours truly, who would much rather tell other folks how to do their jobs instead of get one on my own.
(BTW, I think your big boss, Mr. Guoga, is bluffing with his threats of legal action against Tiffany Michelle and Katie Lindsay. Oops, sorry, I probably shouldn’t say that. One player per hand, I know.)
🙂
Keep up the good work, Haley. I’ll continue to enjoy reading you without linking to you. You may have beat us to the story this time, but we will try to beat you to one later … and if we just can’t ever beat you when it comes to, um, poker news, I’ll just have to take it out on you at the bowling alley!
Haley says:
July 17th, 2008 at 6:35pm
Actually I just tossed the quote in as filler because it was given to me. Molehill >>>> Mountain.
I think you have plenty of skills, Dan, “little guy” or not; I find that more than a bit misleading. You’ve beaten us to plenty of stories. On this, though, you could have called me and not only do you have my phone number, I paid enough for you to buy a brand-new fscking cel phone, re: bowling, so you could have lorded it that way, too. Never again do I bowl with a house ball and shoes. Have proper equipment… will travel.
Haley says:
July 17th, 2008 at 7:03pm
Actually I think I’ll just retire from bowling! 🙂
Pauly says:
July 18th, 2008 at 12:16am
Wait, there’s still a WPT?