Disaster WPT! Could Monday be the End of the World Poker Tour??

[gaboonviper]

For those of you who do not know, March 10th was supposed to be the date when the WPT and Travel Channel finalized their agreement for season 7 broadcasting of the WPT on Travel Channel.

No agreement was reached so they extended their negotiations until April 1st. That is tomorrow. So by Monday we should know whether Travel will pickup WPT for season 7, which is for year 2009.

Since no announcements have been made yet, and we are now into the weekend, it is entirely possible that no deal has been made, or will be made.

Without being broadcast on Travel Channel how long do you think the WPT will last? If Travel dumps them would anyone else pick them up? Remember season 7 does not start until 2009. With the poker boom imploding so fast post UIGEA imagine what it will be like in 2009. And this must be what is going through Travel Channel executives minds. Even now WPT has lost a good portion of viewership from its peak.

Monday, or sometime next week, should be very interesting for WPT. It could be a new beginning, or it could be the beginning of the end.

[EvanJC]

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] you gaboon, good to see you've branched out from the legislation forum.

keep up the good work!

[gaboonviper]

Thanks Evan. I just keep blasting away!!

[Daddy Warbucks]

The WPT couldn't exist without tv coverage?

[olivert]

Gaboonviper:

The one-year TV option between WPTE and Travel Channel that is in play right now is for Season 6 (2008), not Season 7 (2009). You need to do some more reading over at sec.gov or finance.yahoo.com.

In any case, the WPT can do what everyone else (FullTiltPoker.NET, UltimateBet.NET, UPC, and to some extent even the WSOP) in the TV poker business is now doing even if Travel Channel (which is changing owners, from Discovery Communications to COX) were to walk away: either barter or buy TV time in order to maintain a TV presence in the U.S.

In other words, don't count out WPTE just yet.

--

I still maintain that WPTE's best future growth prospect, both TV and online, will be the Chinese-speaking world, with Hong Kong being the crucial entry point because the majority of high rollers who go to Macau to gamble each weekend still live in Hong Kong.

(And I still maintain this view even though I no longer have a Chinese-speaking client as of Friday March 30.)

Given that WPTE already partners with MGM MIRAGE and that the MGM Grand Macau casino in Macau will open by December 2007, the one entity that WPTE absolutely has to come to terms in order to establish a beachhead in "Greater China" is the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC).

PartyGaming CEO Mitch Garber had the same idea as WPTE about Hong Kong being the crucial entry point for Texas Hold'em in Greater China, as he met with HKJC officials last December to discuss a partnership.

There is one broadband TV channel in Hong Kong which airs European soccer schedules and betting odds (particularly English Premier League), as posted by the HKJC, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether that particular channel, or some other channel, will be WPT's ticket into the Hong Kong TV market remains to be seen.

[mikechops]

Negotiations with a deadline like this always go to the wire.

Whereas the Chinese market may well be the future, right now US market >>>China market

[gaboonviper]

Yes, Olivert is correct, WPT and Travel Channel are negotiating for season 6 which covers year 2008. This is even worse than I thought beacause WPT does no even have next year locked up. I did not realize they were this close to oblivion.

[two0crew]

I'm in HK for the semester, we could really use poker out here. As of now, there is no hold'em in Macau, but this culture is so centered around gamboling that I don't see how it couldn't flourish out here.

[olivert]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm in HK for the semester, we could really use poker out here. As of now, there is no hold'em in Macau, but this culture is so centered around gamboling that I don't see how it couldn't flourish out here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) holds ALL the aces when it comes to getting No Limit Texas Hold'em competitions exposed on TV in Hong Kong.

No TV outfit, broadcast or pay cable/broadband, in Hong Kong can legally broadcast No Limit Texas Hold'em competitions unless that competition were licensed by the HKJC.

The HKJC has already been contacted by PartyGaming.

WPTE can't be far behind in contacting the HKJC given that WPTE has an urgent reason to do so. WPTE will need Hong Kong high rollers to participate in the inaugural WPT event in Macau, if and when it happens, in order for the event to be successful.

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As for the U.S. poker TV market, WPTE can always barter or buy its own TV time in Season 6 even if The Travel Channel were to walk away. FullTiltPoker.NET, UltimateBet.NET, and UPC Cash Poker all buy their own TV time.

[rafiki]

doesn't play on that station in Canada, so I'm sure it's not that important.