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Blackbelt TV: new all-martial arts channel

Old 10-10-02, 10:35 AM
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Blackbelt TV: new all-martial arts channel

http://entertainment.yahoo.com/entne...427071200.html

Blackbelt TV Kicks Off Cable Network Venture

Thu Oct 10,10:25 AM ET


You won't find any crying on this TV channel. Riding a wave of recent martial art film successes, a new cable network called Blackbelt TV hopes to carry that popularity to the small screen by packaging it into a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week channel.

Under the guidance of Hollywood producer Larry Kasanoff, known for "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" and "True Lies," the channel aims to draw viewers with replays of movies and television shows by martial arts stars like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris ( news) and Jet Li ( news).

The high-action line-up will be hosted by "gorgeous female fight jocks" in an effort to corner 18- to 34-year-old men who share the motto of parent company Threshold Entertainment: "No Crying. No Hugging. No Learning."

Although Kasanoff said his goal was to do for martial arts "what MTV did for music or what CNN did for news," clearly his audience is testosterone-based.

"If you don't watch us you're going to get your guy card revoked," he said.

Japan's Sony Corp ( news - web sites) and AOL Time Warner have agreed to provide the channel access to its programming, more than 15,000 hours of martial arts content through Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Brothers Domestic Cable Distribution.

Blackbelt TV, scheduled to launch in March 2003, will also broadcast a variety of organized fights, including International Judo Federation tournaments, USA World karate championships, World Boxing Federation fights and Muay Thai kickboxing bouts.

It will also produce "Soul of a Champion," an original biography series featuring interviews with practitioners.

"We know people watch this stuff ... but there's never been one place where you could go for all martial arts," Kasanoff said.

FIGHTING CULTURE

Nearly 20 years after "The Karate Kid" introduced martial arts to mainstream American audiences, a string of recent movies, including the popular "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Jackie Chan ( news)'s recently released "The Tuxedo," have met with box office success.

Films like "The Matrix" and "Charlie's Angels" also feature sequences filled with flying kicks, soaring punches and daredevil throws.

"You see martial arts everywhere you look these days," said Rob Colasanti, vice president of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, a Florida-based organization for martial art school owners. "In virtually all movies these days, if the bad guy isn't kicking and punching, then the good guy is."

But the Asian fighting arts remained an exotic and secretive circle in the United States until the last century.

Chinese immigrants brought kung fu to the United States in the mid-1850s, but it was not widely shared with Americans until the 1970s. Only a few Americans were introduced to the Japanese arts of judo and karate in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

After World War II, U.S. servicemen came home with black belts in judo and karate. And in the 1960s, a wave of Korean tae kwon do instructors came to America. Then the sport began to flourish.

The number of U.S. dojos, or martial arts schools, has skyrocketed to roughly 20,000. There is no official tally of Americans who practice martial arts, but estimates range from 7 million to 15 million, the association said.

The channel hopes to have 4 million subscribers when the network launches next year, and 30 million after three years, Kasanoff said.

'FIGHT JOCKS'

But televised bouts, kickboxing championships and sexy female hosts have some martial artists -- especially traditionalists and women -- worried that Blackbelt TV won't live up to its name.

Traditional practitioners of the fighting arts see their sport as more art and less fighting. For them a black belt represents integrity and respect, not violence.

"I hope that this martial arts channel does not just focus on the sensational aspects of martial arts," said Colasanti, a third degree black belt and former instructor.

Some women artists objected to the channel's male focus.

While network executives said having "warrior babes" was a sign of inclusion, women who practice martial arts saw it as another blow to equality.

"We have been fighting male chauvinism in martial arts for many years," said National Women's Martial Arts Federation Chair Zosia Gorbaty, who also holds a third degree black belt in Zujitsu, a combination art of karate and jujitsu.

"Is this about martial arts or is this about sex?" she asked.

Gorbaty, a fan of the now-ended TV show "Martial Law" who owns about 300 related movies, said a martial arts cable network is long overdue, "but not this one."

Kasanoff denies his channel and its genre are demeaning to women.

"A woman who can fight is the sexiest thing in the world," he said. "Underneath it all is a feeling of empowerment. ... That's what martial arts is and that's why it is so enduring."

Some analysts see the bottom line as the biggest battle for Blackbelt TV.

While other sports have launched cable networks -- most notably The Tennis Channel and The Golf Channel -- critics question whether martial arts will attract the kind of viewers that advertisers crave: those with high disposable incomes.

"You're not going to get that with Blackbelt TV," said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

Kasanoff said Blackbelt TV was currently working to line up advertisers, but declined to name any.

The average cost per programming hour will run $10,000 to $20,000 -- compared with millions of dollars for major network television. The start-up, which has already spent $10 million dollars so far, plans to spend another $50 million by 2006.

Despite leaner costs, Kasanoff admitted U.S. cable providers are key to the channel's success. So far, six of the top 10 cable networks have expressed interest in carrying Blackbelt TV and contract talks are underway, he said.

But the channel also faces competition from other movie channels and ESPN, the Disney-owned sports giant. ESPN already broadcasts several karate tournaments, and in the last year has seen viewership for such shows nearly double.

"It's niche programming. It has passionate viewers that know how to find it. ... But it doesn't necessarily have the mass appeal that basketball has," said ESPN spokesman Mike Humes, who declined to comment on Blackbelt TV in particular.

But Kasanoff said his company turned the violent video game "Mortal Kombat" into a $4 billion franchise that grew to include several movies and a television show.

"We're not inventing any wheels," he said. "People watch this stuff."
Old 10-10-02, 11:31 AM
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Old 10-10-02, 12:15 PM
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Re: Blackbelt TV: new all-martial arts channel

Originally posted by milkdog
[B"It's niche programming. It has passionate viewers that know how to find it. ... But it doesn't necessarily have the mass appeal that basketball has," said ESPN spokesman Mike Humes, who declined to comment on Blackbelt TV in particular.

But Kasanoff said his company turned the violent video game "Mortal Kombat" into a $4 billion franchise that grew to include several movies and a television show.

"We're not inventing any wheels," he said. "People watch this stuff." [/B]
uh.. when will Kasanoff stop milking the Mortal Kombat series? I'm suprised Threshold Ent is still around...

and sure. i watch this stuff, but the only thing i'm going to be paying for.. is my Shaw Bros collection whenever Celestial starts putting them out. until then.. i'll put up with my old vhs tapes...

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