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Sky Poker TV Announcement
Hi All,
It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Sky Poker TV.
After a period of detailed consultation we have decided to close the Poker TV Channel, following our final broadcast on Tuesday 6th December 2016. The Poker channel has been operating for over 9 years and the team have played a significant role in the evolution of Sky Poker.
Our Poker product continues to operate in tough market conditions in the UK, meaning we have had to re-evaluate where we invest. After due consideration the TV channel is no longer an economically viable option for us. The main focus for the product in the coming months will be on improving the player experience and we are currently evaluating our options on how we will best achieve this.
We would like to thank everybody who has been involved with Sky Poker TV over the last 9 years, the show has been a very large contributing factor in the success of Sky Poker.
Comments
Great sadness indeed.
If you would like a wider explanation of the what & why, & to see the above Post translated into normal speak, I have written a blog with some thoughts & reflections which can be viewed HERE
If you have any questions or comments, fire away, & either myself, or someone in Head Office, will try to reply &/or explain as appropriate.
You can reply either on this thread, or directly onto the Blog.
Let's not forget the guys behind the scenes, though, Dan, Louis & Chan. These guys developed Directed & Produced the Show, booked the Guests, wrote the scripts, liased with Sky Sports, produced all the You Tube vids, booked the technical crew - lighting, camera & sound crew, make up, wardrobe etc. (Yup, we did have "Wardrobe" despite Orford looking like a scruff bag), & processed everyone's fees.
Those three lads did everything, & they did it to the very utmost of their ability. All 3 of them will do well in life, & it was a pleasure & an honour to work with them all those years.
The idea is to invest the money in major enhancements to the poker site rather than continue with videos or streaming.
It's all very sad, of course it is, but there's 2 sides to it, & the net result should be a better poker site, as described in the Blog I penned.
In a way, the team, especially Dan, Louis & Chan were pushing string uphill. They devised & managed a really good TV Show, but as it could not "call to action" or mention SkyPoker.com they effectively had their hands tied behind their back. Tough gig, & they did well to make it last as long as they did. I can't speak highly enough of them.
No other Online Cardroom had anything similar, & there's a reason for that - it's very expensive & it's hard to prove it delivers "value".
For the overwhelming majority of Sky Poker players, who play here regularly & maybe only watch the Show occasionally, they'll be better off once the site has been improved.
Me? Well yes, I've been there since October 2006, so it's a bit of a shock to the system, but I tend not to dwell on these things. I have some wonderful memories, & a story or two to tell, & if Sky Poker approve, I'll maybe do a few blogs about Sky Poker TV in the next week or two, & maybe hunt down a few clips from the TV Show & include them in the blogs.
Does anyone remember when Dirty Den from Eastenders was on the show, & walked off halfway through in protest at something amazingly fascinating I was saying?
In the Blog, there is a "Comments" section, which I doubt many of you will read, but Imber posted this.....
"A very sad day indeed - sadly memories of the massive avotars and the presenters moving though the cardfs are long gone - but they brought us to Sky Poker and gave us the opportunity to see our skills (and lack of) discussed on live TV.
It was great to hear our names called - and when it moved to Sky Sports sadly it had gone forever as we could not get 24 hour comfort from 861 or 865.
I guess I will be forever grateful to have claimed the phenomena "The ImberSEAL" - a hand in which I was involved which included a ROYAL FLUSH TO THE BOARD!
I am so sad that time moves on - but am grateful for the opportunity to meet with TK and others on several occasions courtesy of the SPT.
Thankfully I can still silent wave to you TK on the PLO8 Tables and will be forever grateful for your guidance and help in making Poker so enjoyable.
Time moves on but hopefully we wil be around for some time to come."
Good luck to all the presenters and behind the scenes staff too. I'm sure they will go on to bigger and better things.
It's a real shame as like most others it was happening across the channel that got me started playing on Sky.
With the restrictions placed upon the production team since the takeover and the move to Sky Sports it has been obvious how difficult it was to make a programme with content that continued to hold the interest and attention of both newcomers and the old regular crowd. Nowadays I only watch Top of the Pots and the occasional Final table on YouTube but I will miss these.
I'd like to place on record my gratitude to all involved in the making of all the shows over the years :- production staff, presenters, analysts, guests and everybody else. I'm sure I speak for many when I say I am appreciative of all your efforts and I wish you all the very best of luck in your future endeavours.
I was very sceptical about depositing on a poker site, but the personality and the, at times, near professionalism of the presenters put any doubts I had to rest and sky was the first site I deposited on. I joke about the professionalism there, five hours of live air time, three times a week must have been a tough gig, and yet you guys nailed it
Remember tikay giving firm advice about never limping in. I was grinding a play money app at the time and the advice was revelatory to my fishy ears. Beating the play money, trusting the site, reading the forums all gave me the confidence to deposit and enjoy real money poker.
Fave moment was either Orford and hartigan singing through top of the pots (he checked the flop...") or that orange geordie dying with laughter as he reviewed a hand where Anna Fowler bet tommyd out of a big pot with complete air.
hose me down
close to the 861 shows.
Could be better for the site overall, lets hope so , sure the blogs will be great, looking forward to them.
Best wishes to all the background staff, Anna, Tikay and Richard for the future.
Greg.
yesterday was a sad day, today is a day to be proud. proud of what you achieved. well done you all, what you did was quite brilliant.