WSOP Announces Warner Bros. Discovery Broadcast Partnership
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has expanded its production of the annual spectacular in 2026 and have included a raft of television channels who will share the action from Las Vegas. The past few years have provided poker fans with a range of options when it comes to watching the world’s biggest poker festival. These options have been improved tenfold this year, with the WSOP confirming exactly how fans in the United States and around the world can tune in.
New WSOP Broadcast Expands Audience
The announcement that United States viewers will be able to watch much more of this year’s annual 57th WSOP was met with celebration by the poker industry. After many successful years behind the paywall of PokerGO, the WSOP’s subscriber-based viewing model was ready to embrace change and expand its audience.
Featuring free-to-view YouTube broadcasts from the all-new ‘mothership’ WSOP set in the Paris Ballroom in Las Vegas, this year has been bigger than ever in broadcast terms. With Jeff Platt heading up the team, Joe Stapleton, David Williams and Norman Chad have all been key in providing entertainment throughout on shows such as the WSOP ‘Countdown’ show, which previews the action of each day.
Along with YouTube broadcasts, the WSOP has been more active than ever on social media, sharing many hands via X, formerly known as Twitter. This platform remains the most popular with poker players and fans, despite the rise of Instagram and TikTok and is where much of the news is found. Tournament updates are now centrally broadcast directly from the WSOP Live app.
Warner Bros Partnership Heralded by Stewart
The partnership between the World Series of Poker and Warner Bros. Discovery will last the next three years at least, with Warner Bros. Discovery the owner conglomerate of several channels all around the world. Ty Stewart, the WSOP’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) believes that the partnership is a huge step forward.
“To truly grow the game, you need a broadcast stage that matches the stakes,” he said. “We are incredibly proud to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery to showcase the world’s biggest prize-money competition to mainstream audiences worldwide. Together, we are firmly putting the ‘World’ back in the World Series of Poker.”
With Warner Bros. Discovery distributing the WSOP product around the world, European and South American broadcast partners have also been announced. Poker fans across Europe will be able to watch the 2026 Series of Poker Main Event via Winamax broadcast partner Eurosport in France and TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland, with HBO Max acting as the subscription service through which the live WSOP action will be streamed.
Screening shows such as Game of Thrones, HBO Max will be providing the edited highlight shows from this year’s 2026 Main Event, while South American audiences can tune in via the Space Channel for the same World Championship highlight shows.
A Sign of Poker’s Bright Future?
With celebrity endorsements and sponsorships on the rise, poker’s past might have been in casinos only, but television and other broadcast mediums look central to the growth prospects of the world’s favorite card game. The return of the WSOP to ESPN signalled that poker was ready embrace the mainstream, rather than staying behind a paywall more suited to fans of niche sports.
The World Series of Poker brought the game played mostly in casinos into the public eye. Over the last half-century, the game’s growth has been boosted by events such as the 2003 Main Event won by Chris Moneymaker that led to a proliferation of online satellite qualifiers to the world’s biggest poker festival.
Today, the partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and the WSOP looks set to once again grow the game to new levels. A highly competitive mindsport now has a mainstream platform on which to welcome new fans and impress old ones. The future of poker is brighter thanks to the TV lights that now accompany its every bet, raise or call, reaching into millions more homes worldwide.
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