WPT Commercials

[BradleyT]

I thought the sites would be BIG on running commercials this year. The only ones I remember seeing so far are for those stupid % cards at pokersmarts.com (that's with an S).

Are the smaller sites stupid or what? 5-6 million viewers a week watching poker! Mentions of playing online and winning satellites online during almost every show. Can you get more targetted?

Note: I usually catch the 2nd running of the show, so maybe I'm missing the poker site commercials during the first airing?

P.S. Dang, I just went to that chart site. LOL $15 for stuff you can find free online, nice.

[J.R.]

There has been some pressure excerted by the Justice Department and the F.C.C. on TV stations to discontinue conspiring with illegal online gambling sites. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

Suprising, the T.V. stations didn't put up much of a fight. /images/graemlins/blush.gif Don't look for any more online sites to directly advertise on T.V.

[cferejohn]

The FCC does not govern the Travel Channel, or any other cable-only station. They only govern broadcast media. They tried to get juristiction when sattelite TV started, but failed. This is why cable is not beholden to FCC indecency laws (they are still subject to federal obscenity inquiries, but those are few and far between).

The Justice Department could certainly exert some pressure though...

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
The FCC does not govern the Travel Channel, or any other cable-only station. They only govern broadcast media. They tried to get juristiction when sattelite TV started, but failed. This is why cable is not beholden to FCC indecency laws (they are still subject to federal obscenity inquiries, but those are few and far between).

The Justice Department could certainly exert some pressure though...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, its the Justice department. I'm pretty sure that I read about it in mainstream media...they've communicated with broadcasters, strongly implying, or downright saying, that showing those ads would violate federal law and could open them up to criminal prosecution. The way I've heard it, even under the rationale presented by the Justice Department it wouldn't hold up if the sites doing the advertising had a play money poker area.

--Zetack

[Zetack]

Here's a link--Travel Channel is not taking online gambling ads for the moment--look about a third of the way down the page under Advertising Onslaught: Wpt advertising (http://www.bettorsworld.com/web/oddswiz/gaminglaw20.shtml).

And this link has a story about the justice department pressure: Justice Department Pressure (http://www.bet2gamble.com/PlayerResources/News/InfoPowa_News/online_gambling_subpoena_us_justice.html)

--Zetack

[J.R.]

It was my understanding that the FCC was involved with "helping" GE's NBC choose advertisers during the WPT's Battle of the Champions prior to the Superbowl, but I could be mistaken.