There was an episode of "House" that centered around a game of chess -- I actually found that game and someone (NOT me) had annotated it as well -- here is a link to it in my blog.
Chess on Tv
Poker was nowhere on TV until the 'card cam' innovation. For the first time, the viewer could see every player's hand which completely changed the viewing experience. This is not possible in chess. Also, the 'compelling action' in poker is constant, and changes with the turn of every card, plus the number of hands played per hour is very high so constant action. Also not possible with chess. Or desirable in my opinion. Speed chess has been bad enough for the game, ruining more players than developing.
Chess can, and I believe will, make it on internet television. Bandwidth availability is exploding, and streaming live broadcasts (within the next few years at the most) will mark another massive change in technology and the potential for niche genres to do anything that the biggest sports can do - just with a lot less money changing hands. As an IT developer, I can tell you that all of the pieces are available right now for first class presentation; major network quality. Forget TV. Streaming internet video is the future for this kind of thing.
Can any one tell me why we do not get CHESS on TV ?????
We get a lot of Poker on tv why not Chess.