LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Epic Poker League – the new professional poker league which held its first event last month at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas – today announced the broadcast schedule for its Inaugural Season. The League’s initial telecast schedule will feature 20 hours of original television programming, seven to air on the CBS Television Network and an additional 13 original hours, on Discovery Communications’ Velocity network.
Epic Poker League officially premieres on Velocity on Fri., Oct. 7 at 10 p.m. ET, and the first CBS telecast will air on Sat., Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. ET.
Velocity is a fully hi-definition (HD), upscale cable network targeting men that replaces the HD Theater cable network. Velocity debuts on Tues., Oct. 4 in more than 40 million homes. Prior to the change, HD Theater will offer a special sneak preview of the Epic Poker League on Fri., Sept. 30 at 10 p.m. ET. Velocity will also re-air each of the 20 hours of Epic Poker League programming twice on the weekends.
“Players and fans have been asking when they can tune-in to watch the Epic Poker League, so we’re pleased to share our national telecast schedule for CBS and Velocity,” said Jeffrey Pollack, executive chairman of the Epic Poker League and its parent company, Federated Sports + Gaming. “Epic Poker offers an innovative take on America’s favorite card game and our telecasts put an entirely new spotlight on many of the world’s finest players.”
All 20 hours of Epic Poker League television programming will originate from Palms Casino Resort, where each event in the Inaugural Season of the Epic Poker League is being contested. The CBS broadcasts will air on a combination of Saturdays and Sundays, while the first-run Velocity telecasts will broadcast on Friday nights.
The CBS Television Network airdates and times are as follows:
- Sat., Oct. 8, 2011 (1-2 p.m. ET)
- Sat., Nov. 19, 2011 (1-2 p.m. ET)
- Sat., Jan. 14, 2012 (Time TBD)
- Sun., Feb. 26, 2012 (1-2 p.m. ET)
- Sun., April 29, 2012 (1-2 p.m. ET)
- Sun., May 6, 2012 ( 1-2 p.m. ET)
- Sun., May 6, 2012 ( 2-3 p.m. ET)
The Discovery Communications’ Velocity network broadcast schedule is as follows:
- Fri., Sept. 30, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET) – on HD Theater
- Fri., Oct. 7, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Oct. 14, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri., Nov. 4, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Nov. 11, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Nov. 18, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Nov. 25, 2011 (10-11 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri., Feb. 3, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri. , Feb. 10, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Feb. 17, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., Feb. 24, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., March 2, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri., April 13, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., April 20, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., April 27, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., May 4, 2012 (8-9 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri., May 4, 2012 (9-10 p.m. ET)
- Fri., May 4, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET)
- Fri., May 11, 2012 (9-10 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
- Fri., May 11, 2012 (10-11 p.m. ET) (CBS re-air)
Each episode of Epic Poker will be hosted by legendary, Emmy® award-winning sports anchor and reporter Pat O’Brien, who will be making his return to network television. Poker personality Ali Nejad will join O’Brien as co-host and expert analyst.
David Neal and 441 Productions will produce Epic Poker on CBS and Velocity. Neal, the Executive Producer and creative lead for the Epic Poker broadcast, has won 34 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award and is one of the leading producers and executives in all of sports television. Working with Neal will be 441 Productions, who are collective winners of 23 Emmy Awards and one of television’s leading producers of non-fiction programming.
“The broadcasts of Epic Poker on CBS and Velocity will offer viewers a new and innovative experience that will take poker programming to the next level,” said David Neal, executive producer of Epic Poker League. “Epic Poker productions take a page from the best professional sports programming.”
The Epic Poker League Inaugural Season includes four rake-free $20,000 Main Events, each with $400,000 in added money, and a $1,000,000 freeroll Championship Event for the top 27 players in the League. To be eligible to compete, Main Event players must earn membership determined by a rigorous set of objective criteria http://www.epicpoker.com/events/league-documentation.aspx. A complete roster for players that have qualified for Season One of the league can be found on the Epic Poker website at: http://www.epicpoker.com/players/player-directory.aspx.
The four professional league Main Events will feature different formats of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play and a special multi-format tournament. Each event week will include a Pro/Am Event, a Charity Event, and a $20,000 buy-in rake-free Main Event (http://www.epicpoker.com/events/tournament-landing.aspx).
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2011-12 Epic Poker League Season One Tournament Schedule |
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| Pro/Am | Charity Event | League Main Event | |||||||
| Event #1 | Aug. 5 - 8, 2011 | Aug. 7, 2011 | Aug. 9 - 12, 2011 | ||||||
| Event #2 | Sept. 2 - 5, 2011 | Sept. 4, 2011 | Sept. 6 - 9, 2011 | ||||||
| Event #3 | Dec. 10 - 13, 2011 | Dec. 12, 2011 | Dec. 14 - 18, 2011 | ||||||
| Event #4 | Jan. 27 - 30, 2012 | Jan. 29, 2012 | Feb. 9 - 12, 2012 | ||||||
| Championship | ---- | ---- | Feb. 13 - 14, 2012 | ||||||
About Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G)
FS+G is a leading poker entertainment company that serves players and fans through nationally televised events, interactive digital programming and social media gaming.
The company is breaking new ground in poker with the launch of the Epic Poker League – an exclusive tournament series designed to serve more than 200 of the world’s top live tournament players, as determined by a set of objective, analytically rigorous qualifying criteria. In its first year, the Epic Poker League is staging four $20,000 rake-free Main Events for its members and awarding to its champion a $1 million cash prize.
Through its ownership of Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), FS+G also serves poker players and fans across the United States. Built on a grass-root strategy of “Real People, Unreal Money,” HPT provides poker enthusiasts across the country with a televised tournament experience that prides itself on affordable buy-ins. HPT has hosted more than 81,500 entrants, awarded more than $28.6 million in prize money, produced more than 170 hours of television content, and staged nearly 90 events since 2005.
FS+G has developed and made available for poker players and fans everywhere the Global Poker Index™ (GPI™), a patent pending system to rank and track the weekly performance of the world’s top 300 live tournament poker players. The GPI is distributed weekly through www.globalpokerindex.com, and through EpicPoker.com.
FS+G has offices in Los Angeles, Fargo, N.D., and Washington D.C. For tournament schedules and information please visit www.federatedinc.com, www.epicpoker.com, www.HPTpoker.com and www.globalpokerindex.com.
About Palms Casino Resort
Palms Casino Resort, heralded as one of Las Vegas' hippest resorts, is an all-encompassing, one-stop destination. Owned by the Maloof family, the boutique property boasts three distinct towers and a diverse mix of bars and restaurants across a 95,000-square-foot casino. Premier amenities and world-renowned venues include 9 Group operated hotspots, such as Playboy Club; ghostbar; Rain Nightclub; Moon Nightclub; N9NE Steakhouse; Nove Italiano and Palms Pool & Bungalows; as well as The Pearl concert venue; Little Buddha; Simon Restaurant & Lounge; Palms Spa and AMP Salon; Drift Spa & Hammam; LA Sunset Tan; Brenden Theatres, a 14-theatre Cineplex; Huntington Ink Tattoo Lounge; the Fantasy Suites, including the Hardwood Suite, the only hotel room in the world with its own basketball court; and over 60,000 square-feet of meeting space. Palms has played host to MTV’s Video Music Awards, Real World: Las Vegas and Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, and E!’s Girls Next Door and Sunset Tan feature the resort on a regular basis. Palms Casino Resort is located just west of the Las Vegas Strip and I-15 on Flamingo Road. For room reservations, call toll free at (866) PALMS-RES, (866) 725-6773, or visit www.palms.com. For groups of 15 rooms or more, contact the Sales Department at (866) PALMS-MTG or (866) 725-6768.
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