Flextech To Launch Risk Obsessed Player Channel

Flextech is to launch a “gritty” entertainment channel dubbed Player, hoping to entice an audience enthralled by its identically named strand on Challenge with a mix of “high-octane action content” and “the emotion of risk-taking.”

The new channel will launch on cable and Sky platforms next month, with key content from the action adventure, fighting, gambling, poker, football and driving genres.

Flextech promises to focus on the “stories and emotions behind the action, rather than the action itself,” with programmes ranging from coverage of real-life poker tournaments to live football and movies.

The channel will also carry topical and exclusive content, as well as genres not currently employed in the company’s other channels.

Content secured for the launch includes an exclusive live Italian football match between Sampdoria and Juventus, the movie Casino, live motor racing from the FIA GT Championship, the European Poker Tour and drama series Tilt starring Michael Madsen.

Explaining the new channel’s appeal, Jonathan Webb, director of programming for Bravo, Trouble & Challenge, said: “Player will be gritty and intense. It will be about taking risks and winning and losing big. Our shows will explore in-depth the worlds of poker, football, fighting and driving and will capture the moments and the stories of the people we most admire as true players.”

The new channel will acquire and commission content, as well as engaging in advertiser funded programming opportunities within the poker and sports betting sector.

Player will come under the remit of Flextech’s Dave Clarke, who ads the channel to his current management responsibilities, while Kate Barnes, currently acting channel editor for Challenge, will add Player to her role as senior acquisitions executive.

Flextech: www.Flextech.co.uk