Federated Sports & Gaming's Epic Poker League will be televised on CBS and Velocity, a new network being developed by Discovery Communications. CBS will air seven hours of the inaugural tournament, while Velocity will air 13 hours, along with re-airs of each CBS episode. Specific airtimes will be announced later this summer. Pat O'Brien will serve as host of each episode, with Ali Nejad serving as co-host and analyst. David Neal and 441 Productions will produce the shows (Federated Sports & Gaming). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Berzon & Schechner cite a source as saying that Epic is "paying CBS to air the show on weekends as part of a 'time buy.'" Another source said that on Velocity the program "will air as a 'promotional barter,' in which the poker company supplies the show without payment from the channel." Federated CEO Jeffrey Pollack said that he "couldn't comment on the terms" of the deals with CBS and Discovery. Pollack said that he "hopes the television branding will help spur revenue in other businesses, including an amateur poker league and a social media game that the company plans on starting" (
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