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Curtains Close on Party’s Deal with ITV as Deal with Channel Five Is Finalized

June 16th, 2009

After its recently concluded high stakes deal with UK based broadcasting company Channel Five in regards to ‘five’ branded online bingo and casino games, PartyGaming has accepted that its much publicized partnership with media major ITV might be on its way out after all.

Party had entered into an agreement with ITV back in 2007 to offer interactive Television based gaming solutions on the ITV platform. ITV’s internet based products would get support services from Party and the successful PartyBingo driven Bingo Night Live late night show was also aired to a very appreciative audience. This show was wound up in November last year.

The parting of ways has been officially put down to a shifting of strategic goals by ITV. However, insiders suggest that the synergy in the deal between the parties simply didn’t work out and overall, it did not live up to the hype surrounding the deal when it was first announced. The Bingo Night Live series garnered decent TRP ratings, including viewership figures estimated between 100,000 to 200,000, but this was also perceived to be not enough to warrant another season post November 2008.

Prior to the Party deal, ITV had entered into an agreement with Littlewoods gaming, a Sportech venture, to promote its ‘red button’ offerings. This deal also did not have a fruitful end, with Sportech pulling the plug citing business losses.

The new agreement between Party and Five is perceived as a cementing of the relationship already founded on the European Open Poker tourney where Party Poker was the title sponsor. Party is on a B2B deal signing spree this year and this is the fourth deal to be finalized this year, with deals with Intralot for a poker tie up in Italy, DM and Cirsa already booked.

There has been a negative trend of collaborations between gaming companies and television media going bust (including the ITV-Party deal and the ITV-Sportech deal), but Channel Five believes that their deal with Party will not fall into this category.

The company believes that by having a clear and well laid out strategic plan they will be able to break this trend that has been associated with TV-gaming company deals in the past. In the wake of the worst economic downturn in the past 60 years, Five estimates that the company needs to look at ways to generate revenue from their content through new and innovative channels in order to remain afloat. Gaming is a very lucrative option and the deal was the next step in capitalizing on an existing association with Party through the European Poker program.

William Little

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Curtains Close on Party’s Deal with ITV as Deal with Channel Five Is Finalized

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