WPT Enterprises, Inc. announced that it has inked pacts with Macau Cable in Macau and MediaCorp in Singapore to air its flagship show, World Poker Tour (WPT). The agreements elevate to 154 the territories in which WPT shows now on air.
World Poker Tour in Southeast AsiaMacau, a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, is one of the highest volume gaming centers in the world. Macau Cable will air the WPT’s Season I. MediaCorp, the largest broadcaster in Singapore, will feature Season II for its viewers.
“These two deals give us a secure foothold in Southeast Asia, along with our deals in the Philippines,” said Gary MacKinney, WPTE Executive Director of International Distribution. “With the long history of gaming in Macau and the recent licenses issued to a number of international gaming giants who will build or run major new casinos, this area is only going to get hotter.”
Regionally, WPTE has an ongoing relationship, established in 2004 with Solar Entertainment, to air the U.S. version of the show. Additionally, WPTE has an agreement with the largest integrated media and entertainment company in the Philippines, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., to license and air on its network local staged WPT events.
WPTE also announced that it had made the initial international sale of its new Professional Togel Online Poker Tour (PPT) to Canada’s City TV. The premier PPT season is currently airing on the Travel Channel in the United States.
Other recent deals include the first WPTE broadcasting commitment in Spain where Fox will air WPT’s Season I. In addition to the PPT, Canada’s City TV will air the recently completed WPT Season IV.
“WPTE’s continued international broadcast expansion has fueled the worldwide poker phenomenon and has given us first position in the increasingly larger global poker marketplace,” said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPTE. “The demand for our programming has been gratifying and the speed of growth exhilarating.”
PartyGaming and 888 In Merger Talks
Online gaming giants PartyGaming and 888 Holdings held preliminary talks over a possible merger, Sunday Times newspaper reported. Industry experts are predicting the companies would have a market value of £1.6 billion if they were to consolidate.
Both companies were left reeling as stock prices and revenue plummeted after US President George Bush signed legislation effectively banning online gambling in the country.
PartyGaming, which earlier in the month said the legislation would cost it in excess of £130 million, put an optimistic front on the situation and called it a ‘golden consolidation opportunity’, despite over 70 per cent of its business coming from the states.
The online poker company has also reportedly been in tie-up talks with Gamesys and Victor Chandler over European and Asian gaming opportunities in recent weeks.
Neither PartyGaming or 888 were available to comment on the speculation.
