Fox Sports Net’s coverage of the first “live” poker tournament turned up some solid ratings chips.
FSN’s presentation of The American Poker Championship Live from the Turning Stone Resort and Casino averaged a 0.7 mark on its different regional sports networks over four hours July 14, according to Nielsen Media Research data. That was the best poker performance on FSN, and it marked a 61% jump in total viewers from the prior-year time period.
Airing on a five-minute delay for security purposes, the tournament proved particularly popular in Detroit (a 1.75 in the DMA), St. Louis (1.55), San Francisco (1.43), Seattle (1.41) and Los Angeles (1.07).
The tournament featured a pair of innovations: a 90-second play clock, and instantly readable cards identifiable through microchips that interfaced with the network’s graphic generators.
