CABLE TV
There was a time, around 2007 or 2008, when it seemed like every other email I read was a pitch about a new cable network launch. All the pitches were the same: A niche sport that caters to an underserved audience would cost cable operators a fraction of what they pay ESPN.
After all, if it worked for the NFL …
Not surprisingly to me, almost none of those channels are around today. Over the past several years, traditional cable channel launches, like the SEC Network, came on the backs of big media companies. The niche channels have migrated to over-the-top.
However, several cable industry veterans are testing the market on a new linear channel that will be devoted entirely to poker. Poker Central will launch Oct. 1 to several markets inside and outside of the U.S.
“One of the big differences with us is that we’re going global from day one,” said the channel’s CEO, Clint Stinchcomb, who was a top executive at Discovery more than a decade ago. “When we launch on Oct. 1, we’ll be in multiple countries right out of the gate. The world’s a lot smaller than when we were kids.”
Stinchcomb recently hired former Turner executive Sid Eshleman to head up distribution and former Discovery executive Dan Russell to lead programming. Joe Kakaty will head up ad sales, and former Outdoor Life executive John West will be executive vice president of ad sales. Stinchcomb, Eshleman and Russell were at Discovery in 2003 when they cut a deal to put the World Poker Tour on Travel Channel.
“We saw it take off like a rocket ship from 2003 to 2010,” Stinchcomb said. “There was a pullback in 2011 when the feds clamped down on some of these online poker guys. Since then, we’ve really been in this second renaissance period.”
Poker Central is privately held. Its investors include three of the best-known poker players: Daniel Negreanu, who is the channel’s chairman, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Hellmuth.
Poker Central will launch with the rights to more than 2,000 hours of programming, which it puts into six categories. It will have live games, like the World Poker Tour or Premier League Poker. It will have instructional programming from beginner to expert. It will have news and information — “Poker Center” is based on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” It will have documentaries (Poker-ographies), destination programming and poker-themed movies.
Poker Central will launch as a full-time linear channel that also will be available via over-the-top. It will provide video on demand, TV Everywhere and mobile programming.
“You have 55 million people in the U.S. who play it consistently,” Stinchcomb said. “We view it as the biggest category on the planet that doesn’t have its own dedicated TV network.”
