Travel Channel to Air Professional Poker Tour

The parties have collected themselves, the dust has cleared, and television poker fans have yet another show to watch. After much legal wrangling and squabbling, the Travel Channel and World Poker Tour Enterprises, Inc. (WPTE) have entered into an agreement to air the Professional Poker Tour (PPT) television series. The five events of the first season have already been taped and are slated to air during the third quarter of 2006 from 9:00pm to 11:00pm EST/PST.

This almost did not happen. Back in September 2005, WPTE sued its television partner, the Travel Channel, claiming that the cable network was interfering with its efforts to shop the PPT around to other networks. Fortunately, the two sides settled their differences and were able to put a deal together. Both companies released the following, bland statement:

“WPT Enterprises and The Travel Channel are pleased to announce that they have resolved their differences amicably and terminated the litigation between them. Both parties look forward to continuing their mutually prosperous relationship.”

The PPT is a series of invite-only freeroll tournaments, designed to reward the top poker players in the world. Each tournament has a $500,000 prize pool and is open only to those who have met the PPT’s prerequisites. Players can get invited by achieving various levels of success on the World Poker Tour or in the World Series of Poker, or even hold certain unique qualifications such as membership in the Poker Hall of Fame.

The PPT’s on-air personalities will be two-time 2005 World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Mark Seif, and actor Matt Corboy.

Originally published January 20, 2006