Annie Duke Poker League May Air on CBS

A recent article in a major Hollywood trade magazine reports that the new professional poker league founded by Annie Duke and former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack will have televised coverage provided by CBS.

On Tuesday, an article in Variety written by Stuart Levine credited unnamed sources saying that the Federated Sports and Gaming professional poker league will air its inaugural four-tournament season on CBS.

If Levine’s report is correct, then these tournaments, which will run in August, September, December, and January, would more than likely hit the air during CBS’ coverage of the NFL come the end of 2011. In the event that the NFL does not solve its current labor issues in time for the season, then the new league headed by Duke could step in to provide alternative programming.

CBS airing poker may be a bit late, but the network has previously tried to get in on the boom of the 2000s. In 2006, CBS aired the one-and-done Intercontinental Poker Championship, which pushed the notion of players representing their countries in an Olympic-style event. While Yosh Nakano (representing Japan) was able to take the title over Tony G (representing Australia) in the inaugural tournament and its ratings were very good, the league was never run again.

The two major poker tournament series, the WSOP and the World Poker Tour (WPT), have been the major drivers of televised poker for nearly the past decade. Since 2002, cable sports giant ESPN has broadcast, at the minimum, the Main Event of the WSOP. The WPT, on the other hand, premiered on the Travel Channel in 2003 before moving to GSN for one season and is currently airing on Fox Sports Net.

Poker has had a more difficult time finding its legs when it comes to the major American television networks – the traditional “power four” of ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. In 2004, the WPT aired a special Battle of Champions on NBC in a counter-programming attack to CBS’ Super Bowl coverage, but has never had another broadcast on the major networks. Although some coverage of the WSOP in the 1970s was seen on CBS and NBC, it never garnered enough attention to keep its network slot. ABC, most notably, has not shown any poker programming.

Most recently, poker on the major networks has been limited to “made for television” competitions that focus more on the personalities than the game. NBC has stepped further into the televised poker game with its broadcasts of “Poker After Dark.” The series, which features top professionals squaring off in sit and gos or cash games, is broadcast in the early morning hours in the U.S. and has been widely acclaimed by viewers.

Fox, in addition to its Fox Sports Net coverage of the WPT, has broadcast the PokerStars sponsored “Million Dollar Challenge” starring Daniel Negreanu and other top poker pros and celebrities in heads-up matches against online qualifiers. Fox has aired the “Million Dollar Challenge” for two seasons along with its coverage of the NFL. Fox has also been behind another cash game effort sponsored by PokerStars, “The Big Game.”

Earlier this month, the official schedule for Federated Sports and Gaming’s first season was announced. Each event on the schedule will be a one-week festival, with a Pro-Am, charity, and Main Event taking place at the Palms in Las Vegas. The first tournament in the yet-unnamed poker league is scheduled to begin on August 12th.