Poker Central made waves in October 2015 by opening a 24/7 cable TV channel, dedicated to providing news, highlights, tournament coverage, and old clips. Unfortunately, Poker Central included far more of the latter, airing endless old footage from poker-boom-era shows.
Not surprisingly, this didn’t work out too well and they’ve shut down the TV channel in favor of a digital/web-based approach.
Now, Poker Central will work with established networks like CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and ESPN to offer poker content. They’ll also provide live-streaming programs through their Twitch and YouTube channels.
“It’s a digital pivot because we saw our millennial audience wanted more content. But they wanted new, original content,” said Poker Central president Joe Kakaty.
Moving into 2017, Poker Central wants to better connect with their intended millennial audience since they totally missed the mark with the TV channel. It’ll also help that the network is limiting their TV expenses because, with so much content available online, fewer people are watching televisions these days.
But Kakaty insists that his company ins’t entirely distancing itself from TV.
“TV is not going away — it’s just how we’ll work with TV that is going to change,” he said.
No information has been made available on Poker Central’s ratings or revenue numbers. But we can only assume that they haven’t been incredible due to the big changes going on right now.
In a related story, PokerVision Media will launch a digital TV channel in 2017. PokerVision will not only offer poker content, but also other forms of gaming, eSports, and sports programs.
While this sounds like an interesting idea that hasn’t been explored yet, the only catch is that PokerVision will be a Canada-only station.