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ITV4 spends Fridays playing poker New UK diginet ITV4 will launch today armed with rights to the US show World Poker Tour, as well as gritty US crime drama Wanted, Comedy Central's puppet show Crank Yankers and the new Kojak series. ITV4 has licensed series one and two of the World Poker Tour for a primetime Friday night slot, first airing this Friday at 22.00, after a deal between ITV4 channel editor Steve Arnell and US-based WPT Enterprises and Alfred Haber Distribution. The poker package amounts to 72 hours of programming. "We have seen what the show has done for broadcasters in the US and abroad. It has developed a large and devoted fan base worldwide and we believe it will be an important addition to the ITV4 schedule," said Arnell. "Now, with the poker craze sweeping the UK, anybody will be able to tune in and learn a lot about poker from our show as well as be entertained," said WPT founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb. WPT launched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel in the US on March 30, 2003. WPTE executive director of international sales Gary MacKinney and Alfred Haber Distribution handle the sale of international rights for WPT programming. In addition to the World Poker Tour, ITV4 will broadcast the first UK airings of a number of US series including Traffic: The Mini Series, Homicide: Life on the Street and William Shatner's send-up of Hollywood, Invasion Iowa. ITV4 launches tonight at 18.00 with soccer fixture Real Betis vs Chelsea in the Champions League. The net will air on Freeview and cable, with digital satellite viewers getting the channel over a simulcast on Men & Motors, after a carriage deal with BSkyB was delayed until next week. Ed Waller 1 Nov 2005 © C21 Media 2005 
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