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Tag: The Contender

  • ‘The Contender’ moves from NBC to ESPN

    MUMBAI: The boxing based reality show The Contender may not have done as well as expected on US broadcaster NBC but producer Mark Burnett has managed to find another home for the show.

    The second season of the show will begin airing on ESPN from April 2006. The Contender deals with the lives, fears and hopes of 16 professional boxers as they compete for the chance to change their lives and the lives of the people they love forever.

    In India the first season aired on AXN. In the US The Contender will air under the ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) banner. ESPN has options to renew the series for two subsequent seasons. ESPN will also utilise the series across all media platforms on a worldwide basis. ESPN US executive VP programming Mark Shapiro says, “The Contender has all of the elements that make it the right fit for ESPN: compelling storylines, dynamic characters and suspense over the outcome.

    “This series speaks to our viewers’ love for competition and their appreciation for triumph over adversity. It goes without saying that the track record of Mark Burnett is exemplary — a perfect match for the critical and ratings successes EOE has delivered in both scripted and unscripted drama.”

    Burnett said, “Our vision from the onset was to improve the entertainment experience of televised boxing for the fans. What better platform to achieve that vision than on the network that pioneered sports television programming.”

    Mark Burnett Productions will continue to handle the distribution of the series internationally, as well as the sponsorships and product integration.

  • ‘The Contender’ knocked out in the first round on NBC

    MUMBAI: Even the most successful television and film producers have products that do not work. Reality TV guru Mark Burnett is no exception.
     

    US broadcaster NBC has decided not to renew its boxing based reality show The Contender. The finale of the first season which aired on 25 May attracted six million viewers according to Nielsen estimates.
     
     

    While the show did add family drama it failed to attract a healthy female audience. The final episode saw Sergio Mora triumphing over Peter Manfredo Jr. Manfredo lost a unanimous decision to Mora, who dominated from early on and who as late as the sixth round was dismissively shaking off Manfredo’s punches.

    Still Manfredo can be happy over what he achieved. He was eliminated in the series’ first episode, only to be voted back in when boxer Jeff Fraza quit because of chicken pox.

    NBC’s decision not to give the show a second chance was booed by a sold out crowd at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Fans in the audience heckled NBC president Jeff Zucker at the encouragement of an announcer. The finale saw celebrities like actress Cameron Diaz There’s Something About Mary and comedian Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop in attendance.

     

  • ‘The Contender’ comes to a close tonight on AXN

    MUMBAI: Action oriented broadcaster AXN will air the final episode of NBC’s boxing based reality show The Contender tonight 25 May at 10 pm.
     

    The last two contenders – Sergio Mora and Peter ManfredoJr – will slug it out to grab the prized belt of The Contender from executive producer Sylvester Stallone.
     
     

    Peter is affable, likes to laugh and is generally a happy guy but does not take criticism well. He knows the world of boxing, his place in it and is confident in his chances in this competition.

    Sergio’s dream is to make enough money boxing to allow his mother to quit her job working at a warehouse and send her traveling the world without his brothers.

  • Stallone less than optimistic about ‘The Contender’ returning

    MUMBAI: Even as the curtain comes down on the first season of US broadcaster NBC’s boxing based reality show The Contender tomorrow 24 May one of the show’s executive producers does not hold out much hope about the show returning for a second season.
     

    Actor Sylvester Stallone who shot to fame with the boxing movie Rocky way back in 1976 has put the blame on NBC for the fact that the show has not quite excited audiences. He feels that the show should have had a better time slot.

    Reports indicate that the episode which aired on 8 May saw 6.1 million viewers tuning in. By comparison, 14.8 million watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Each episode of The Contender cost $ two million. In India the show airs on AXN.
     
     

    On a more positive note when tickets for the final Contender boxing match went on sale last month at a price of $100 to $300, they sold out immediately.

    Meanwhile Yahoo! is trying to draw at-work boxing enthusiasts into the ring for an afternoon of live, Web-only bouts sponsored by Toyota and Intel.

    In an extension of its deal with The Contender Yahoo! will host two exclusive bouts between contestants chosen by fans of the show. The fights will be streamed live from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas tomorrow 24 May before the season finale.

    Yahoo!’s regular Contender sponsors, Toyota and Intel, are the featured brands during the 24 May bouts. The companies will get play in a combination of pre-roll video and banner placements on the official site.

    Yahoo’s senior VP of entertainment and content acquisition Jim Moloshok said, “The Internet is the television for the workplace. The nice thing about an event like this one is that we’re able to reach people during what is primetime for broadband use. From an advertiser’s perspective, it’s a great time to reach them, because they’re about to leave work and go to happy hour or to the grocery store.”

    Yahoo! is calling the afternoon matches Fan Favourite bouts. During the two weeks leading up to the finale, viewers could go to the show’s official site on Yahoo! and vote for eliminated contestants who they would most like to see fight again.

  • AXN chalks awareness campaign around ‘The Contender’

    MUMBAI: One of AXN’s major programming initiatives for the year is The Contender. The boxing based reality show kicks off on 10 March with a double episode at 9 pm. The next episode airs at the same time on 11 March. Thereafter it will air every Monday live at 8 am with a primetime repeat at 10 pm.

    The show from US broadcaster NBC’s stable deals with 16 boxers competing for the chance to win a million dollars and go professional. To create awareness around the same the channel will conduct an integrated marketing campaign.

     
     
    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on this Sony assistant VP marketing Rohit Bhandari who looks after the channel in India says, “We will be using different mediums for The Contender. You will see hoardings coming up in the Metros. We will be using the backs of buses. As far as radio is concerned we have tied up with Red and Go 92.5 FM. There will be promotional spots as well as contests.”
     
     
    Online, the broadcaster has tied up with MSN and Yahoo. Besides contests through which AXN will be handing out merchandise, visitors can also get further information on the show. Bhandari adds “Right now we are not looking at tying up with retail outlets. We are at the awareness building stage. However once the show picks up momentum we could look at tying up with youth hangouts. We are also examining the possibility of holding a contest whereby one winner goes to Las Vegas to view the final bout.”
     
     
    Mountain Dew, LG and Skoda are sponsoring the show. Bhandari expressed optimism on the show doing well. “Sylvester Stallone and Mark Burnett who is the show’s creator are well known names. Historically boxing fights are more popular when a famous name is involved in some capacity. The Contender has also roped in boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard.”

    Bhandari however does not feel that a local production for a sports based reality show will work in India. “It is too early for that. Right now awareness about sport outside cricket is limited. There is some awareness for hockey. Tennis is growing to a certain degree due to Sania Mirza. I however feel that the growth of Formula One’s popularity will be restricted because the Indian viewer cannot experience it first hand. When you see cars live zooming at the venue that is when you get a real feel for the sport.”

  • AXN delivers a boxing punch to the reality genre

    AXN delivers a boxing punch to the reality genre

    MUMBAI: AXN is strengthening the reality programming genre in Asia. The action oriented broadcaster has acquired the rights to NBC’s upcoming reality show The Contender , following its success with other reality shows like Fear Factor .

    The show, which deals with 16 boxers competing for the chance to win a million dollars and go professional, will air across AXN Asia from January. Episodes are expected to run less than 24 hours after their initial broadcast in the US on NBC.

    The show is the creative brain child of Mark Burnett who is also responsible for Survivor. Dreamworks will co-produce the show and actor Sylvester Stallone will supervise and mentor the contestants. Stallone will be jojuned by boxing legends Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman.

    AXN Asia GM Ricky Ow said, “We are extremely excited to bring The Contender to Asia. The Contender’s combination of high adrenaline action and real-life drama, together with the creative genius of Mark Burnett, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the unprecedented line of boxing legends and the mega star power of Sylvester Stallone, are certain to make this show a knock-out hit amongst our viewers across Asia.”

    What is interesting is that in the US Fox had entered into the boxing arena first by airing its own boxing reality show The Next Great Champ in September. Endemol USA had conceived the show for Fox.

    There was a heated fight between the two broadcasters. However responding to an NBC lawsuit in September trying to block Fox’s show from airing a California trial court had said that Fox’s show was protected by the First Amendment.

    Fox had come up up with its own boxing based reality show after losing the bidding war to NBC for The Contender. However The Next Great Champ’s host Oscar de la Hoya had been quoted in a report claiming to have been approached by Dreamworks head Jeffrey Katzenberg to consider the host’s role on the NBC show.

    He claimed to have turned it down because The Contender is “merely a glorified tough-man contest and not a legitimate boxing-focused show”. De la Hoya said that, by contrast, his show was “going to have real amateurs fighting, and I think that it will be great for the sport.”

    Burnett was not surprisingly furious at Fox’s move. In an interview with Variety he said, “Fox lost out fair and square in the bidding. It is hard to believe that they would do something substantially similar. ” While The Contender was an original idea after having seen Fox’s show there is the danger that come January NBC’s show could well be viewed as a copycat among US viewers.

    Talking about his show The Contender Katzenberg said, “Everyone connected to this series has felt a rush of adrenaline in the struggle to see one champion emerge victorious. We can’t wait until America gets its chance to see the emotional challenges faced by our contenders as their quest to be number one begins in January.”

    “It has long been our dream to bring boxing back to primetime television and this show is the realisation of this goal, said co-executive producer Jeff Wald. I couldn’t have asked for better partners in this great endeavour than Mark, Jeffrey, Sly and Ray.”