Epic Poker Inks TV Deal with CBS, Discovery Development Channels
You’d think practically living at the Palms with @Ziggy_Susan from Epic Poker League for the past, um … summer … that I might get a little inside info hook-up, but alas, I have to read about it in the “Hollywood media” upon retweet from @Mark_Gahagan. I’m away for barely a week and outta-sight outta-mind, I guess?
Anyhow, so Epic Poker League … the one with a $1,500 Pro-Am that I won a seat into and will air in Heartland Poker syndication … continues to develop, and it looks more and more like a real poker contender, with the league now having locked down the “pro” part of their TV deal.
Major network CBS will be airing Epic’s big $20k invitational events, with ousted WSOP film crew 441 Productions handling camera duties under the aegis of former NBC Sports exec David Neal. Longtime real-sports dude Pat O’Brien will be the TV host, with Ali Nejad as his analyst sidekick.
In my mind, this is yet another part of “the reconstruction” of poker we are currently witnessing, and testament to what can be may have to be done without the help of traditional online poker sites that previously pushed poker on TV but now face criminal indictment.
Also in with this deal is additional TV coverage — live-minus-30 maybe, or is that just wishful thinking on my part — on a soon to be relaunched Discovery B-side channel called Velocity. It’s supposed to be “a turbocharged network for an upscale male audience” now, according to the network … which, I dunno, haven’t seen yet so not gonna diss — channel launches in October; real, fully legal advertisers to follow — but sounds kinda, um, Epic?
F-Train says:
July 27th, 2011 at 3:26pm
You really think that 7 time-bought hours on CBS and jamming everything else onto a yet-to-be-launched cable channel that nobody has ever heard of is game-changing? Really?
Dan Michalski says:
July 28th, 2011 at 5:51pm
Where do I say that? “game-changing”?
the same way i won’t diss the unproven discovery channel, i’m not gonna get all excited and scream yippe about it either. but i do see how, theoretically, the discovery “development” channel could bring a lot of new advertisers into the poker mix. it also has the potential to flop for reasons nothing to with poker.
And to that extent – poker TV not produced by stars or tilt as a direct infomercial related to player acquisition and/or retention is at least kinda a game-changer, no?
Dan Michalski says:
July 28th, 2011 at 5:51pm
Where do I say that? “game-changing”?
the same way i won’t diss the unproven discovery channel, i’m not gonna get all excited and scream yippe about it either. but i do see how, theoretically, the discovery “development” channel could bring a lot of new advertisers into the poker mix. it also has the potential to flop for reasons nothing to with poker.
And to that extent – poker TV not produced by stars or tilt as a direct infomercial related to player acquisition and/or retention is at least kinda a game-changer, no?
Dan Michalski says:
July 28th, 2011 at 5:54pm
and oh … i didn’t realize it was a time-buy. frankly, i didn’t see how it could be without an online site attached to it. so less of game changer (at this point) and more a curiosity about how that could possibly work.
My guess for now is long-term play.
Dan Michalski says:
July 28th, 2011 at 5:54pm
and oh … i didn’t realize it was a time-buy. frankly, i didn’t see how it could be without an online site attached to it. so less of game changer (at this point) and more a curiosity about how that could possibly work.
My guess for now is long-term play.