Poker Channel

[Mr. Morati]

Is there some kind of poker channel that has poker on 24/7?(like the golf channel or the yankee channel) If not, that is a HUGE money making business for anyone who wants to make some money. But the channel would have full poker tournaments(not the clips of people going all in on everyhand)and it would have stratagy shows etc. I would make one but i am only 15. But Thats the problem with tv poker... they show people going all in on everyhand, so people who are learnign think thats how you play. So is there a Poker Channel?

[duker41]

A wonderful idea, which somebody is probably trying to make work right now. But there are flaws...

1) Poker on the whole is boring to watch, and sustaining a large group of viewers over a number of hours would be hard. At times it can be exciting, but even ESPN cut the WSOP main event down from almost a week of 12+ hours a day to a few hours of show, and even that was with them making up hands.

2) A lack of big tournaments. Yes, there is a tourney somewhere everyday, but not many people (please correct me if i'm wrong) are interested in watching the $200 buy-in hold-em event at a tournament.

3) WSOP and the WPT events are in TV deals already, which means many of the biggest events are on other networks, and with the ratings they get on reruns, who wouldn't be interested in allowing their tapes to be played on another network.

I agree that it would be something I would watch, but it doesn't seem economically feasible.

[B1GF1SHY]

Poker is boring to watch? How the hell did golf get its own channel then? Now THAT's a boring channel and even they can manage to keep it going. Bah, golf sucks...

[snowlarbear]

many times late at night while channel surfing i have wished for such a channel. at the very least, stations should broadcast reruns of old shows instead of infomercials..

[garyg1]

the World Poker Tour just went public with stock offering last month and that is one of their goals listed for their future, a poker channel!!

[benfranklin]

I have read about some people trying to put together a cable gambling channel. That would probably have a better chance of working, with a wider audience. And given the current situation, it would probably have a very large percentage poker content.

[snowlarbear]

[ QUOTE ]
the World Poker Tour just went public with stock offering last month and that is one of their goals listed for their future, a poker channel!!

[/ QUOTE ]

really? what is their symbol?

[brassnuts]

When I first started getting to poker (almost two years ago) I could watch hours and hours of poker on TV; I never got bored of seeing rerun after rerun. However, now I'm starting to find most poker shows boring, even new events. This is especially true since I started getting serious about poker (last 5 months or so) and have been playing a lot.

That being said, when I was really into watching, I thought it would be cool to have a poker channel. I now, however, think it would be a huge failure. There are two basic demographic audiences for poker on TV. Those who play poker and are serious about it and those who just like to watch it. I'm fairly confident that much of the poker 'expolosion' is going to fade away in several years. May people who 'just watch poker on TV' will eventually become disinterested. This leaves only the people who are more serious about playing poker. And, unless I'm in the minority of this group, there probably are a lot of other players who don't really enjoy watching poker on TV that much.

I'm not suggesting that in a few years, we won't be finding any televised tournaments. Heck, I'll still be watching them even though I find them boring for the most part. However, common sense says that there is no way that a poker channel could be a success for very long.

[zerosports]

a poker channel doesn't have to only show events.

Hand discussion shows, strategy shows, interviews with top pros, reality tv segments following up and coming players through their first tourneys, shows reviewing poker merchandise/chips/computers for poker etc can all make good shows. Fill in the gaps with classic footage or reconstruction of old WSOP events and original movies and it wouldn't run out of steam so quickly.

[Frenchie]

Their symbol is WPTE

[Smasharoo]

Poker's not Golf. It's a fad for most people. In ten years a Poker Channel probably wouldn't be self sustaining. Maybe I'm wrong about that, I hope so in fact, but I can't see it being a long term thing.

[duker41]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker is boring to watch? How the hell did golf get its own channel then? Now THAT's a boring channel and even they can manage to keep it going. Bah, golf sucks...

[/ QUOTE ]

The poker we see now (WSOP and WPT) are not boring to watch, but watching live tournaments would be a little to much for most people. I, along with many (maybe all) of the people on 2+2 would love it, but that's not as many people as you'd think. Also, golf has the ability to know when it's excitement, the last few holes, are going to be, since a golf round is generally 4-4.5 hours long. Poker, on the other hand, can take much longer, or much shorter, and the channel has no idea when the event will end, 3 people can be knocked out in 10 minutes or they can play heads-up for 3 hours, the time problem is much bigger here. And, as Smasharoo mentioned, poker's popularity may very well be a fad. Tennis and hockey both have flirted with the idea of an "all one sport" channel, and both either never got off the ground or failed because people eventually lost interest in the sport, and with the inability of this channel to show live coverage of the big events (WSOP and WPT events), it removes the chance they had to show the truely big events (poker's "majors", to use a golf analogy)

[Easy E]

http://www.cgtv.com/onair/network.shtml

[riverflush]

CGTV is looking to be on cable and satellite systems by early 05...that'll be the closest thing to date. We're in uncharted territory here, but if we can have an Animal Planet, we can have a Poker Planet.

[dollyfan]

[ QUOTE ]
if we can have an Animal Planet, we can have a Poker Planet.


[/ QUOTE ]

best post ever.