Watch Poker on TV

There is a massive rush for the rights to broadcast the big poker tournaments on television

There were massive fears for the future of poker when the United States authorities decided to eject the top three online poker sites in the world from the game. Thankfully such fears are proving unfounded as the game continues to go from strength to strength. The World Series of Poker 2011 has just finished and there were massive numbers of attendees competing for huge amounts of prize money, the Main Event was the third largest of all time and overall attendance was the largest ever. Combined with this, ESPN broadcast the final table of every single tournament held over the month long festival for the first time ever and now other television networks are rushing to get into the poker coverage.

Now the really big television networks have signed up to screen various poker events that are scheduled for the future. The Fox Sports Network has the rights to the World Poker Tour and has reported a massive increase in ratings for those looking to watch the masters of the game at work. With Poker After Dark and Big Game II set to return, each for a new series it really appears as though poker is coming out on top.
The really thrilling news is that JB Pritzker, the well known philanthropist and businessman, has joined his efforts with the former WSOP President, Jeffrey Pollak, Michael Brodsky, the onetime boss of New World Opportunity Partners, as well as the highly respected Godfather of the Sports and entertainment industry David Goldberg. Together these investors own and manage Federated Sports + Gaming inc (FS+G). The FS+G group has already one $1 million out of $2.5 million pledged to FS+G with which to broadcast poker games and tournaments over the internet as well as on television, just to make sure that anyone who wants to watch the tournaments can.

With Pollack involved it is likely that this enterprise will see some major successes as this is the man who introduced the November Nine format for the WSOP and ensured a highly lucrative 12 year broadcasting contract with ESPN to ensure that poker fans all over the world have the opportunity to watch the unofficial World Champion of poker win his title. Pollack has also brought his magic to the NBA and Nascar.