The World Poker Tour announced on July 17, 2008 that it was making a move from the Game Show Network, to the Fox Sports Network after just one season. The WPT was a hit in its debut on the Travel Channel in 2003; its rating’s peaked in 2004 and saw a slow and steady decline leading to the move to GSN for season 6. However, after just one year with GSN which saw great ratings WPT is on the move again. The move is greatly to do with the shift in programming that GSN was making moving away from Poker, while seeking a younger demographic for the Network.

WPT Season VII will consist of 26 episodes which will air on Sunday night’s on FSN during the prime time (6-10pm) hours. The episodes will be an hour long and still feature the final 6 of major WPT events. The first event to be featured will be the Bellagio Cup which just finished up earlier this month. The launch date, time slots, and other details are still to be ironed out but the major points of the deal are set.

This move is seen as a great step forward for the Fox Sports Network who has been partly responsible for pokers eruption on television. They have had many some what popular poker shows, the biggest of which was probably the Poker Superstars Invitational. This move however will give FSN some credibility in the televised poker seen, as WPT is definitely a major player with huge credibility.

This news didn’t have much impact in the financial world as at the start of trading the day after this announcement came through; WPT’s stock was trading at $0.90/share and peaked at $1.10 but closed at $0.92/share. So time will tell if this is a good deal financially for the WPT. I do think though it is safe to say it’s a good deal for FSN.