GSN to pick up "World Poker Tour"....

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'149709\' date=\'Apr 6 2007, 07:37 PM\']
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'149686\' date=\'Apr 6 2007, 01:16 PM\']What people may overlook is that while this kind of programming may be more popular than game shows, it doesn't really help the cause of game shows on GSN.[/quote]It sure doesn't. And that ship sailed when we first saw Average Joe and Spy TV instead of Wheel of Fortune and $100,000 Pyramid.
[/quote]

However, those shows didn't work ratings-wise for GSN.  Casino gaming is the only non-traditional game show element that has worked for GSN in ratings and demos since the re-branding.  Of course they're going to stick with it--and at the end of the day, WPT fits in with GSN a lot better than it ever did with Travel.

[Matt Ottinger]

Lost in all this discussion about whether the poker show "fits" is that if The Travel Channel wanted it, it would still be on The Travel Channel.  The bigger issue is that poker shows on TV may have run their course, and all this is is GSN picking up something that wasn't even good enough for The Travel Channel anymore.

[weaklink75]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'149712\' date=\'Apr 6 2007, 09:06 PM\']
Lost in all this discussion about whether the poker show "fits" is that if The Travel Channel wanted it, it would still be on The Travel Channel.  The bigger issue is that poker shows on TV may have run their course, and all this is is GSN picking up something that wasn't even good enough for The Travel Channel anymore.
[/quote]


True, but with the new Travel Channel ownership, maybe they wanted to get back to their roots with programs about, well, travel...and I don't think TV poker has run it's course, but it has probably gone past the peak, and it's going down to a plateau. However, networks think it can still be a viable show (NBC is expanding their Heads-Up Poker tournament to 7 consecutive Sunday shows, each one going from 1-3 hours long for example).

[Jimmy Owen]

Cool!  NBC's back in the daytime game show biz!

The Travel Channel is a better fit.  There's no better place for a tour than a travel channel.

[Caustic Window]

I haven't watched the WPT in a few years... but haven't many of the "name" poker pros ditched this for the PPT show? Or is it a package deal for both series?

Like someone else said, the PPT is inactive right now, but regardless, both WPT and PPT were run by the same company and did not compete with each other.  In fact, PPT scheduled their events to coincide with off-days in WPT events, so ithe two entities actually complemented each other, if anything.  

Then maybe they should....oh, I dunno...PLAY POKER BETTER.

It's not quite that simple.   WPT events get much more entries than they used to.  No matter how well they play, the recognizable professionals are much less likely to reach the final table in a 700-player event than they are in a 200-player event.  So while the success of the WPT tournaments (at the casino level) creates much greater prize pools, which is good for drawing viewers, the downside of it is significantly less star-studded final tables.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'149712\' date=\'Apr 6 2007, 09:06 PM\']
The bigger issue is that poker shows on TV may have run their course, and all this is is GSN picking up something that wasn't even good enough for The Travel Channel anymore.
[/quote]
I don't think that's saying much.  GSN and Travel get similar ratings, but even though GSN only has about 2/3 the HH, partnering it with HSP could probably up that.  Plus, it may have just been the case that Travel Channel didn't want to pay for more episodes.

Casino gaming is the only non-traditional game show element that has worked for GSN in ratings and demos since the re-branding.

What about the docs?  I thought they did pretty well.