The Poker Channel

Infobox TV channel
name= The Poker Channel
logosize=172px
logoalt=The Poker Channel logo
launch= March 23 2005
Sister Channel=All In Sport
online poker site=PokerHeaven.com
sister channel=All In Sport
web= [http://www.pokerchannel.co.uk/ www.pokerchannel.co.uk]
web= [http://www.pokerchanneleurope.com/ www.pokerchanneleurope.com]
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The Poker Channel is the world’s first television channel dedicated purely to the game of poker.Fact|date=August 2008 It launched initially in the UK on 23rd March 2005.Fact|date=August 2008 The Poker Channel provides coverage of both pre-recorded and live action of major poker tournaments from across the globe as well as coverage of major online tournaments where online poker players compete against each another in front of a TV audience. The Poker Channel also commissions series that explore the grass roots of poker and gets under the skin of both the game and its players by showing the viewers the various angles of the game, both from a human perspective and from observing and learning the skills of the game.

About The Poker Channel

The Poker Channel is broadcast to over 15 million cable and satellite homes in 12 markets.Fact|date=August 2008 The channel's programming can also be watched at dedicated online Poker Channel destinations including pokerchanneleurope.com, Youtube, Vuze, Joost, Zattoo and Blinkx. The channel controls the rights to over 500 hours of poker programming, the largest library of poker programming in Europe.Fact|date=August 2008

History

The Poker Channel was formed in 2005 by CEO Crispin Nieboer, ex Commercial Manager at British Sky Broadcasting, formed The Poker Channel with James Hopkins, Sky Sport’s producer of Poker & Rugby Union, who was involved in the success of the first ever live poker program, The Poker Million in 2000; and recruited Chris White, a former FremantleMedia executive, as Commercial Director in 2006, to extend the channel into Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The Poker Channel began its broadcast on 23 March 2005. The Channel was initially available in the Entertainment Section of Sky's Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) as channel number 265. The channel was a huge success in the UK, attracting up to 1m viewers a month, from just 8m homes.Fact|date=August 2008 In April 2006 Sky re-ordered their EPG and put all gaming, call-TV and dating channels in a new section ("Gaming and Dating") dropping The Poker Channel's channel number from 265 to 844. All channels moved down to the "800s" suffered huge drops in viewers. In an attempt to regain its lost viewers, the Poker Channel moved itself back up 400 places on the EPG, into the Sports section, at channel number 444 under the name "All In Sport" in August 2006 . Whilst the channel attracted strong viewing levels again,Fact|date=August 2008 Sky's EPG listing rules meant the channel could only broadcast 4-6 hours of poker a day, rather than 24.

The Poker Channel decided in December 2006 that due to Sky's policy of putting all gaming channels in the "800s", and the non-existent levels of viewers for channels in the 800s, that they could not properly address a UK audience with a 24hr poker channel on the Sky platform. Instead the channel would focus on the rest of Europe.Fact|date=August 2008 On 31 Dec 2006 the channel stopped airing on Sky, and on the 1 March the channel launched the first ever pan-European poker channel, in the 6 key poker territories in Europe: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France and Germany.Fact|date=August 2008

Up & Coming Highlights

Major tournament coverage for Spring 2008 include Europe’s largest poker tournament, the Irish Open 2008, the World Heads-Up Championship from Barcelona; the European Poker Masters, the Million Dollar Cash Game (Europe’s highest ever stakes cash game featuring Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Gus Hansen and Jennifer Harman), the Invitational from Monaco Grand Casino, classic World Series of Poker coverage, and the channel’s new ‘All In…’ series from far-flung locations including Tallinn, Estonia, Bucharest and Romania.

Major tournament coverage for Spring 2008 include Europe’s largest poker tournament, the Irish Open 2008, the World Heads-Up Championship from Barcelona; the European Poker Masters, the Million Dollar Cash Game (Europe’s highest ever stakes cash game featuring Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Gus Hansen and Jennifer Harman), the Invitational from Monaco Grand Casino, classic World Series of Poker coverage, and the channel’s new ‘All In…’ series from far-flung locations including Tallinn, Estonia, Bucharest and Romania.

The British Poker Open

The very first British Poker Open (BPO) was held in London in April 2005. The tournament would run between April & May and would have a prize pool of over £200,000Fact|date=August 2008with the heats and final filmed and broadcast live. Players included Greg Raymer, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer. The inaugural BPO was won by Adam Dujmovic, a semi-professional from Chicago.

European Poker Masters

After the BPO, Crispin Nieboer & James Hopkins established the European Poker Masters (EPM), Europe’s first ever independent poker tourFact|date=August 2008. Although no live broadcast was planned, the finished programs were to be distributed to the Sky Sports & Eurosport channels to ensure maximum exposure broadcasting the shows in over 54 countries in 18 languages.

The EPM consisted of four separate events held over four months between September 2006 & December 2006. Each event was designed to accommodate a number of participants who would be whittled down over a couple of days and accumulate in a final table of eight. Once only eight remained, the players found their way to the final table.

Other Programming

As with any specialist television channel, the aim of The Poker Channel is to broadcast content as diverse as possible within the poker remit. The Poker Channel began to build up a library of poker shows that would eventually become Europe’s largest and feature tournaments of all sizes from across the globe, poker-orientated lifestyle shows, instructional shows and documentary shows that would focus on particular players. Online poker also featured heavily by using pioneering techology to provide coverage of multi-table tournaments in the online community. For instance the PokerHeaven.com Online Series of Poker saw in-studio commentators describe the action as online players battled their way into the money as furiously & determined as any player in a regular tournament.

Asides from the BPO & the EPM, 2 other major poker tournaments were initiated, produced & broadcast by, and became exclusive to, The Poker Channel. 2005 saw a high-adrenaline tournament aptly named the World Speed Poker Open which mirrored the BPO in terms of production & stature but with one key differential to existing tournaments - each player was only allowed 15secs in which to make their decision. Also featured was the World Cup of Poker 2005, a unique tournament that saw players from around the world represent their countries in teams of five and compete for a prize pool of US$125,000 over numerous heats of heads-up (one-on-one) poker.

References

External links

* [http://www.pokerchanneleurope.com/ The Poker Channel]
* [http://www.allinsport.co.uk/ All In Sport]
* [http://www.europeanpokermasters.com/ European Poker Masters]
* [http://www.britishpokeropen.com/ British Poker Open]