Finding yet another way to get their product to the viewers, a new broadcasting outlet has announced a deal with the World Poker Tour that will get a great deal of their product out through internet, mobile and smart TV outlets. Theta Labs, through their “always on” 24/7 live poker channel on THETA.tv, is looking to build upon their eSports platform by adding in the preeminent poker tour in the industry.
Seasons of WPT Tournaments Available
The new deal not only gives the WPT another outlet, it gives THETA.tv its first major “non eSport” outlet. The WPT will share with THETA.tv Seasons VIII through XVI (covering from 2009 to 2018), the three seasons of the WPT Alpha8 broadcasts (which originally aired from 2014 through 2016) and the show King of the Club, which saw players from the WPT’s subscription online poker site ClubWPT vie for a shot at playing at a WPT event.
“The World Poker Tour is excited to be featured on THETA.tv powered by the Theta Blockchain, an innovator in the fast-growing video streaming space,” Adam Pliska, the Chief Executive Officer of the World Poker Tour, stated during the announcement. “As THETA.tv and the Theta Network grows in size, we look forward to offering additional assets and programming on the platform in the upcoming future.”
“Theta Labs and WPT are innovators in our respective industries and this global partnership will provide our users with a new, ground-breaking way to watch the best televised poker product in the world, all powered by our peer-to-peer Theta blockchain technology,” said Mitch Liu, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Theta Labs. “We’re looking forward to deeper integration of the Theta Network within WPT.”
Constantly Adding to Platforms
The WPT has an extensive catalog of broadcast outlets that put on their product. These platforms extend from the terrestrial to cable and streaming outlets. You virtually don’t have any excuses for not being able to find a WPT broadcast at some point in time!
On the syndicated terrestrial side of the equation, the WPT added to its catalog by signing broadcast deals in major cities such as Los Angeles, Houston and Las Vegas. Those broadcasts started earlier this year and marked the first such foray by the WPT into syndicated television. But the WPT isn’t limiting itself to just the syndicated market.
In 2016, the WPT signed a five-year deal to keep their product on the FOX Sports Regional Networks. That continued a deal that first started in 2009 and will expire at the conclusion of Season XIX in 2021 (unless it is extended). That is impressive in its own right as, should the contract reach fruition, it would make the WPT one of the few television programs that has consistently broadcast for 19 years.
If that weren’t enough for poker fans, the WPT is also a key linchpin of the preeminent poker streaming outlet in the business. Poker Central’s PokerGO features live broadcasts of WPT events while also offering a plethora of content from the WPT video vaults. The streaming doesn’t stop with PokerGO, however, as the WPT has its own channel as a part of the free streaming service Pluto TV, where classic episodes of the WPT tournaments can be streamed 24/7. All totaled, the WPT reaches 150 countries and counts millions of viewers either through syndication, cable broadcasts or streaming.