World Poker Tour Heads to GSN - Game Show Network Signs Deal with WPT - Travel Channel is out of the Poker Industry

The World Poker Tour is moving its game to the Game Show Network. The 6th season of the WPT is leaving the Travel Channel, its home for the initial five seasons. But GSN has agreed to pay $300,000 per episode to broadcast the popular WPT events.

As part of the deal, Game Show Network agreed to spend at least $3 million on promotions for the World Poker Tour. Given that the WPT was on a short timeline, this is a pretty good deal for the poker tour, because it was thought they were on limited time to negotiate with competitors.

The recent anti-gambling legislation seems to have poured cold water on Travel Channel's interest in televised poker. From 2003 to 2007, the WPT has been one of their most popular and profitable shows. In earlier years, the network was eager to renew their option on their poker broadcasts. But Travel Channel is taking a risk that the poker boom is over.

The fact is, gambling has never been so popular in America. There may be laws that keep Americans from gambling online, but those bogus laws should not be taken as an indication of the average American's enthusiasm for the game. In fact, the passage of anti-gambling laws should be taken as an indication of how widespread and mainstream poker is these days. Poker is so popular, the lawmakers have to protect us from ourselves.

Game Show Network is happy to pick up the slack. Their High Stakes Poker broadcasts have attracted a solid audience in recent years. This makes a perfect bookend for the HSP broadcasts. I'm hoping to see a poker night on GSN next season.

GSN will broadcast a full season of poker, including 23 full episodes. That comes to a $6.9 million deal for the World Poker Tour, with three million throw in for advertising. So WPT got a full ten million in this bargain with GSN. Future seasons will see an increase of 5% per episode in the money received by WPT.

The network has an option for two more seasons. I hope they choice to exercise it. Frankly, I believe that the Game Show Network is a more natural fit for poker anyway. I guess professional poker players travel a lot, but I never quite understood its connections to the Travel Channel.

I guess poker isn't a game show, though now that I mention it, it seems like now would be the time for someone to base a game show on poker. Someone call the networks.

World Poker Tour Heads to GSN - Game Show Network Signs Deal with WPT - Travel Channel is out of the Poker Industry