French language for Poker Channel

04/13/2010

Gaming Media group's The Poker Channel, has announced that it is to launch Poker Channel France, the first dedicated poker channel for French viewers, on 8th June.

The new service will offer exclusive French-language poker entertainment to over 4 million television subscribers in France, with satellite TV expansion to another 5 million French subscribers by September 2010.

Poker Channel France will be available at launch to subscribers of Numericable, Freebox (the TV service from Iliad Group), Neufbox (SFR) and Bbox (Bouygues Telecom), and will offer French-language coverage of all major events including the WSOP, EPT and WPT; tutorial shows, daily news updates and exclusive tournaments such as the European Cash Game, to be filmed later this year in Paris.

The launch of the dedicated French-language channel coincides with the expected implementation of gambling liberalisation laws in France this summer (see previous InfoPowa reports), and The Poker Channel is reportedly in discussions with several major online gaming operators about long-term exclusive marketing partnerships.

The Channel has also revealed that it is adding a further 3 territories to its pan-European feed, including Latvia (w.e.f. 13 April), Austria (5 May), and Monaco (8 June), taking it to a total of 28 countries and over 22 million TV homes.

Chris White, md of The Poker Channel said, “We’re delighted to be launching a channel that is 100 percent French, and to finally give both advertisers and viewers what they’ve been demanding for so long. This is a fantastic opportunity to promote the game to an even larger audience, from beginners to pros.”

The Poker Heaven and Poker Channel interests of Gaming Media Group could be up for sale, following news that Management has hired Cavendish Corporate Finance to advise on options for the future. The move to explore a sale came after the company received several unsolicited approaches from trade buyers, according to UK media reports last week (see recent InfoPowa bulletins).