Poker in the News

Harrah's has hired the sports television consulting firm Pilson Communications to negotiate with ESPN regarding the World Series of Poker broadcasts, as well as to develop new poker programming.

Pilson Communications has previously negotiated a $2.4 billion agreement with Fox, NBC and Turner to air NASCAR events, and handled a $2 billion agreement for NBC to air the Olympics.

So what sort of "new poker programming" should we expect? This is a start:

Harrah's recently created a separate World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit, a series of five poker tournaments that will run prior to the final championship event, to transform the month-long event into a year-round sport. ESPN will also be taping the main events in the circuit, which kicked off Friday in Atlantic City.

Las Vegas SUN: Poker broadcast being negotiated