The World Poker Tour announced on Thursday that it’s packing up its bags and heading to Fox Sports Net after a one-year stint on GSN, the Network for Games. Last month, GSN elected not to pick up its option for exclusive rights to the seventh season of the WPT, prompting a last-minute effort by the California-based poker tour to seek out a new television partner. The latest news came as the Bellagio Cup, which is the first tournament that will be aired as part of Season VII, played its final table. PokerNewsDaily spoke to Steve Lipscomb, CEO of the World Poker Tour, and George Greenberg, Executive Vice President of Production and Programming for Fox Sports and Fox Sports Net.
The World Poker Tour aired its first five seasons on The Travel Channel, which caused millions of Americans to become interested in the sport. The Travel Channel experienced successful ratings and became available in many homes around the country because of the network’s poker programming. In Season VI, the World Poker Tour headed to GSN. With High Stakes Poker already entering its fourth season, GSN was poised to make a run at becoming the premier destination for poker enthusiasts around the United States.
Recently, David Goldhill became the new CEO of GSN. He had been speculated by some to desire that the network move away from poker-related program and it’s been assumed that the World Poker Tour was the first casualty. GSN elected not to pick up its exclusive rights for Season VII. Goldhill commented in a press release, “The World Poker Tour has been a great partner and the show continues to perform strongly on our network. We are continuing discussions with WPTE regarding how we may be able to work together – including perhaps broadcasting parts of Season VII.”
On Thursday, Fox Sports Net and the WPT announced a partnership to air 26 one-hour episodes that will comprise Season VII. Lipscomb commented to PokerNewsDaily, “We started up the World Poker Tour with a mission statement of wanting to transform poker into a televised mainstream sports sensation. We have dreamed of being on Fox Sports Net. George and I have known each other for the past eight years.” Fox Sports Net will be airing 26 one-hour episodes on Sunday night. When asked if each episode would comprise half of a tournament (since GSN airs two-hour episodes now), Lipscomb commented, “See, you’re already guessing.” It remains to be seen how FSN will fill the one hour of time, but expect a vastly different WPT production in Season VII.
This isn’t FSN’s first dab into the poker world. The network aired the Mansion Poker Dome program as well as Poker Superstars. It’s known for being a bold sports network that is willing to take risks in order to create successful programming. Greenberg commented, “The Director of the Mansion Poker Dome came to us and said we should try to incorporate music into the show. He wanted to use it as a tension builder and said that it could be a really unique branding device. We also incorporated a heart monitor that was put on each player.”
To say that Lipscomb and Greenberg were looking forward to working together would be a vast understatement. On a speaker phone located down the hall from the room that would host the final table of the Bellagio Cup, the pair utilized a long-standing friendship to be able to give WPT programming a home once again. Lipscomb summed up the thoughts from the WPT’s vantage point: “People won’t have to go hunting for the World Poker Tour. That’s a good thing for Fox Sports Net and a good thing for the World Poker Tour. It’s nice to have a home that understands us.”
The deal was finalized on Thursday with Greenberg and Lipscomb inking the final papers at the Bellagio. The Las Vegas casino was the very first location that a WPT tournament was filmed in and is also the site of its annual $25,000 buy-in Championship event. You’ll be able to see the seventh season of the WPT exclusively on Fox Sports Net. In the meantime, new WPT episodes continue to air every Monday night on GSN. The network has airing rights for Season VI tournaments for the next four years.
In other news, sources at GSN told PokerNewsDaily that the cable network has decided to pick up the fifth season of High Stakes Poker, the only cash poker game that you can see on television. No official word on this pickup has been given by GSN.
