World Poker Tour Announces New TV Deal With CBS Sports

The World Poker Tour has introduced a brand new multi-year cope with CBS Sports activities to make the community the corporate’s unique tv accomplice for premiere episodes. The settlement begins this month with Season XXI motion.

“Since our debut on the Journey Channel again in 2002, our WPT tv presence has grown considerably in each manufacturing high quality and attain,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska mentioned. “We’re extremely grateful to accomplice with a top-tier community and can’t wait to share a wealth of premium poker programming to the huge CBS Sports activities viewers.”

Preliminary episodes coming to CBS embrace the 2023 WPT Seminole Exhausting Rock Poker Showdown Championship. All through the partnership, the community may even air all episodes from Season XXII and XXIII, together with collection that includes the 2023 WPT World Championship in addition to the upcoming ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational Freeroll.

The community has catered to poker gamers in recent times, together with including World Sequence of Poker and PokerGO protection in 2021. The WPT now joins that poker portfolio.

“_CBS Sports activities Network_ is the perfect accomplice to raise WPT TV and develop its attain to new households across the nation,”, WPT Vice President of Studios, Distribution and Advert Gross sales Loc Sondheim mentioned. “It’s an honor to convey the joy of poker to a community that showcases among the greatest occasions in sports activities.”

Tour programming debuts CBS Sports activities Community on Nov. 14. Right here’s a timeline of among the WPT’s tv and media protection by the years.

2002 – The tour debuts on the Journey Channel and turns into the community’s highest-rated present on the time. The community aired the tour’s first 5 seasons.
2004 – A WPT particular “Battle of Champions” match airs on NBC reverse CBS’s protection of the Tremendous Bowl pregame present.
2006 The WPT airs on Sport Present Community (GSN) for one season.
2008 – The tour indicators a cope with Fox Sports activities Internet (FSN) to air 26 episode of the tv present.
2009 – After the corporate is acquired by PartyGaming, episodes start airing in Europe making use of the PartyPoker model.
2014 – The corporate launches the WPT Alpha8 excessive curler collection, which is proven on Fox Sports activities 1.
2015 – Free streaming service Pluto TV provides a 24/7 WPT channel. The tour additionally streams reside ultimate tables from numerous occasions as nicely on YouTube.
2016 – The tour once more indicators a five-year cope with Fox Sports activities regional networks (later to be referred to as Bally Sports activities).
2019 – A brand new deal is introduced with BT Sport to point out tour occasions in the UK and Eire.
2019 – One other worldwide deal is introduced with TV Azteca to convey the tour to a Spanish language viewers in Mexico and different Latin American international locations.
2019 – The WatchWPT app is unveiled, permitting poker followers to view an archive of 150-plus episodes.
2021 – A brand new deal is struck with Samsung TV Plus for the present to succeed in viewers in United Kingdom, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
2024 – An new settlement is introduced with CBS Sports activities Community within the U.S.