Ultra-targeted sports channels are rushing in to serve the 33 million-subscriber digital cable and s
Stand back, ESPN. Karate, judo, jujitsu and tae kwon do might not seem broadly appealing enough to support a 24-hour cable channel, but the backers of Blackbelt TV are banking that come next spring their nascent network will do for martial that MTV did for the music video and the Food Network did for Emeril Lagasse. Sporting a round-the-clock lineup of programming ranging from Thai kickboxing tournaments to reruns of The Karate Kid(Blackbelt TV says it has built the biggest
Fighting for the Target Demo
Cableworld listens in as Larry Kasanoff and his Blackbelt TV team bat around kick-ass tag lines. Several entertainment executives sat at a table in Santa Monica, Calf, late last month to engage in a heated debate about how to best pitch their new start-up network, Blackbelt TV. They needed to decide, among other things, which catchy little phrase would become Blackbelt TV's tag line. So how about The Kicks and Ass Channel? Or what about Kung Pow Television? I giggled as I rea
Martial-Arts Channel Aims to Leap Onto Cable Rosters
Can Blackbelt TV, selling itself as MTV for fight fans, break media titan's programming grip? Jackie Chan and Jet Li may be big action stars, but do they have enough juice to justify a cable network devoted solely to fists of fury? Larry kasanoff hopes so, and despite long odds, he plans to launch a martial-arts channel early next year. The producer of “Mortal Kombat” films, who also worked with “Terminator” director James Cameron to create production company Lightstrom Ente
