CBS Reportedly Interested in Televising Poker League

According to a report at Variety.com, the new professional poker league being organized by Annie Duke may be closing in on finding a television home. According to the industry publication, sources say that CBS is in talks with the league about getting the television rights to their five events, including the season ending championship.

While CBS declined to comment on the story, the partnership would make sense. CBS is a broadcast network, which would get the new league the most exposure possible throughout the United States. For CBS, the deal would give them a marquee poker product to put up against the high-profile poker programming shown by most other television giants.

The competition in the television poker arena is stiff. While Disney-owned ABC does not directly show much (if any) poker, their sports cable network ESPN is the home of the World Series of Poker, the biggest single event in the sport. Meanwhile, Fox’s Fox Sports Net show’s the premiere tournament series, the World Poker Tour. NBC also has some excellent poker programs, highlighted by the National Heads Up Championship and the late night series, Poker After Dark.

The new poker league is tentatively being referred to by the name of the company organizing it: Federated Sports & Gaming. The first event of the tour will take place in August, with the season comprising four events. After the season, there will be a special championship event for the league leaders, which will take place at the end of January 2012. All events will take place in Las Vegas at the Palms casino. Each regular season event will consist of a Pro-Am, where nine players can win a chance to join the tour for the upcoming tournament, and a Main Event that will pit the world’s best players against each other. The Championship will feature 27 players and a $1 million prize pool.