More details on the plan:
[ QUOTE ]
And I understand why the idea of a live final-table broadcast is controversial. Televising poker live adds a significant amount of complexity to the proceedings. Ty mentioned to me that he's not in favor of separating fans from the action - the live webcasts of some final tables from the 2007 WSOP was a new experience and one from which Harrah's learned many things - and therefore would sequester the entire room. Players, fans, and attending media would all be squestered and communication devices would be removed. (I'm not sure why media would want to be present if they couldn't communicate, especially because they'd be seeing LESS than if they watched it on TV, but I understand how everyone has to be locked down.)
.
Another complexity involves broadcast time. Stewart told me in an e-mail that he does "not believe that ESPN will dedicate more than a three hour window to the stunt" or "that a mainstream audience will have interest watching for a period longer than that anyway." This might lead someone to conclude that they'd need to jack up the blinds and antes super-high to force the action into a watchable time period.
.
He assured me that Harrah's had no such thing in mind. Everyone in the process is trying to develop a formula of starting play before the broadcast hits the air, "flash editing" to catch up, and going live for the final stages in a reasonable broadcast window. Stewart didn't come out and say, "We'll never under any circumstances alter the blind structure for TV" - though maybe he'll read this and tell me just that - but it sounds like the goal is to arrange the broadcast to fit around the natural Main Event endgame, and not the other way around.
[/ QUOTE ]
Link to update