Well I believe this argument has been buried a whiles ago, but it is definitely worth resurrecting.
If I remember correct, the strongest arguments AGAINST televising chess are
1) The Speed argument: In its purest form, chess is a slow game. Even if you argue saying "let's televise" Blitz or bullet chess, you'll still see GMs play a level of chess that you or I WILL STILL NOT not manage to grasp move-for-move.
How on earth would you capture the interest of the layman? Let alone tv ratings, sponsors etc.?
2)The It's-not-Poker argument:
While Poker is wonderfully complex and can be as "slow" as chess to view, it doesn't take much effort to "evaluate" a good hand as a tv-viewing spectator. I don't need to read My System cover-to-cover to understand most of what is going on...plus there's the feeling of bravado and bluffing that is very palpable to an audience. Big money changing hands, sure ... it's the same reason Las Vegas excites most of us...the average man believes that with something like luck, even HE can make it big... so watching others excites him, gives him something to cheer.
Chess on the other hand is a mostly luckless game that requires tons of work to get better at, let alone understand when watching it between commercial-breaks.
It is also extraordinarily elitist ... the players you'd be watching on tv wouldn't ever be as like-able as the poker-stars are.
If I was ESPN, I think it is a no-brainer what game I would put my money behind.
Why they dont put chess tournaments on tv, Someone with a tv network should do it. All CHESS PLAYERS NEED TO PROTEST THAT, Any time they put poker and the spelling bee on tv. What to knock on CHESS? Chess need to on tV for real, Lets get this topic floating in the right person ears ya dig