Once very proliferated poker shows on TV were slashed in the wake of Black Friday, but may now resurrect with the latest US trend toward state-by-state legalisation of online poker.
Commenting on networks' interest into extending coverage Jamie Horowitz, vice president original programming and production for Walt Disney's ESPN, said: "Online poker will introduce a lot of new people to the game and I think that will bring another big wave to television."
ESPN is currently broadcasting the popular World Series of Poker (WSOP), taking place in Las Vegas, as well as the next 26 segments starting on July 23, while CBS's Showtime will air for the first time on TV a 2009 documentary "All In - The Poker Movie," about poker becoming part of the mainstream culture.
Larry Gerbrandt, principal of Media Valuation Partners, is positive about already rising poker show ratings and thinks that the last poker TV boom helped offshore online poker sites to drive viewers to their sites expecting similar investment by emerging online gaming companies to fuel television.
Comcast NBC Universal's E! Network said it is developing a new reality show called "Queens are Wild" that follows four top female poker players who room together as they travel the world and compete to win millions. It was Ben Spector, of LA-based Tollin Productions, who said he was approached by top Hollywood agency CAA to pitch the reality show on female poker players to networks.
According to Gary Quinn, vice president programming NBC Sports Group, the unit airs the "National Heads Up Poker Championship", has brought back "Poker After Dark" in 2012, and is in discussion about different poker projects.
The first company to present online poker in the U.S. in Nevada Station Casino Inc's Ultimate Gaming and its chief marketing officer Joe Versaci, confirmed: "We are speaking with NBC and Fox and several other networks to see what the appetite is for the category over the next 24 months."
Versaci and others are interested in California because: "What happens in California in late 2014 and 2105 will be key, not only because it's the epicenter of where TV is produced, but because it's like a country itself and can support a large poker market," he said.
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