Wednesday, April 11, 2007 | 7:35 a.m.
As president and chief executive of cable channel GSN, Rich Cronin had coveted the rights to the World Poker Tour for years.
Last week, he finally got them.
GSN (Cox cable channel 344) secured an agreement last week to show the sixth season of World Poker after the Travel Channel opted out of its deal with the lucrative, made-for-TV poker tournament circuit.
Season 6 of World Poker, which begins play next month with a tournament at the Aviation Club in Paris followed by two big Las Vegas tournaments, is scheduled to start airing on GSN in early 2008.
The popularity of the World Poker Tour, which made its debut in 2002 at the Bellagio, is credited with helping to kick-start the ongoing international poker craze. Along with Chris Moneymaker's victory at the 2003 World Series of Poker and the rise of online poker, the World Poker Tour played a major role in breathing new life into what had been a graying pastime relegated to the fringes of the gambling scene.
Although he was watching from a rival channel, Cronin said , he sensed World Poker's potential from its inception.
"When they launched the tour and they had their deal with the Travel Channel, we were jealous," Cronin said. "I've always hoped that we'd be able to have it on our channel."
GSN plans to feature the World Poker Tour on its Monday "Vegas night" lineup , which includes the hit show "High Stakes Poker," offering a no-limit Texas hold 'em cash game, and other gambling fare such as the World Series of Blackjack.
"It's a perfect fit for us," Cronin said. "Back at the time the World Poker Tour was launched, we were still primarily game shows. But then in March 2004 we had our name change (from Game Show Network to GSN, the Network for Games) and expanded to include more casino-game programming, such as tournament blackjack and poker.
"What a great companion (World Poker is) for 'High Stakes Poker,' which has really taken off for us."
GSN agreed to pay World Poker $300,000 for each of 23 episodes in Season 6, with a possible bonus for World Poker of $20,000 to $35,000 per episode based on Nielsen ratings, according to financial filings linked to the deal.
World Poker currently lists 14 tournaments on its Season 6 schedule, but a season of shows typically also includes specials such as a "Ladies Night" and other invitational events.
Although GSN appears in fewer households than the Travel Channel - about 63 million as opposed to an estimated 89 million - GSN committed to spending at least $3 million on marketing related to the show, according to the agreement. GSN also has options for the seventh and eighth seasons of World Poker.
"The key thing for us is that this makes GSN the No. 1 destination for year-round poker programming," Cronin said.
Heads-up ratings
TV ratings for the first episode of the 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship showed a 15 percent increase from last year, according to NBC Sports, earning an overall 1.7 rating with a 5 share Sunday.
The heads-up tournament, taped in March at Caesars Palace, was especially popular with viewers in Seattle (4.9 rating, 15 share) and San Diego (4.6 rating, 13 share). Las Vegas was one of eight markets that surpassed a 2.0 rating.
Subsequent episodes will air on the next six Sundays on NBC (KVBC Channel 3).
Meeks aboard
The World Series of Golf has named Tom Meeks to head its executive rules committee, according to Terry Leiweke, president and CEO of the series.
Meeks, former U.S. Golf Association senior director of rules and competitions, also served on the rules committees at tournaments such as the Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship.
The World Series of Golf, scheduled for May 13-16 at Primm Valley Golf Club, allows amateur players to compete for a $750,000 prize pool by making wagers on each shot in a poker tournament-style betting format.
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