In a monumental announcement on Thursday afternoon, the streaming 24/7 poker channel Poker Central met its goal of heading to a broadcast outlet, announcing a deal with an Ohio cable outlet that will start broadcasting the network as one of its offerings.
Buckeye CableSystem in Ohio will be the first home for Poker Central on a cable outlet in the United States. Starting on Friday, those who receive their cable broadcasting from Buckeye CableSystem’s will be able to tune into Poker Central on channel 92 in standard definition. If the viewer prefers to have Poker Central in HD, then channel 579 on Buckeye CableSystem will be the place to go. Buckeye CableSystem serves the cities of Toledo and Sandusky, OH, and covers parts of Ohio and Michigan.
“We are pleased to be able to offer our subscribers the very best and newest in entertainment and sports programming,” said Jeff Abbas, president and general manager of Buckeye CableSystem, during the announcement of the new deal with Poker Central at Hollywood Casino in Toledo. “Poker Central will find many passionate viewers among our customers in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.”
Apparently Hollywood Casino was integral in bringing Poker Central to Buckeye CableSystem as their Vice President of Casino Operations, Jeffry Goodman, spoke glowingly of the network. “Hollywood Casino Toledo is pleased to be a part of the launching of Poker Central in our area. We look forward to Poker Central providing unprecedented coverage of the poker world and insider access to the incredibly talented professionals who make the game so compelling.”
Since its launch in October 2015, Poker Central has been quite aggressive in bringing programming to its channels. The premiere of the 2015 Super High Roller Bowl – which was shown on the NBC Sports Network – whet the appetite of people for the 24/7 poker channel, something that had never been attempted in the United States. Drawing the backing of such poker luminaries as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari also helped out the fledgling poker channel.
When it did actually throw the switch for broadcast in October, however, it was a little bit disappointing. Instead of the “television” network that many had anticipated, Poker Central was little more than a streaming network available over such devices as Roku, Xbox One and other streaming devices. It also featured little original programming, relying heavily on old broadcasts of tournaments from the European Poker Tour, the World Poker Tour and made for television broadcasts such as Poker After Dark, Face the Ace, the Premier League Poker events and other Sky Poker shows.
As time has gone on, however, Poker Central has slowly begun to add more programming to its roster. Their show Pokerography – think A&E’s Biography, only about poker personalities – has added more players over the past few months and more original efforts are said to be forthcoming. In addition to the fresh programs, management at Poker Central signed a deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative in December that helped to facilitate today’s deal with Buckeye CableSystem in Ohio. NCTC represents almost 900 companies like Buckeye CableSystem who seek programming such as what Poker Central is providing.
Whether this opens up the floodgates for Poker Central to more outlets remains to be seen. But it is an important step forward in that they have scored their first “television” outlet only a few months into operation.
