Blackbelt TV Assembles Largest Martial Arts Entertainment & Sports Library in the World; New Network Closes Coup on Over 20,000 Hours of Martial Arts Entertainment Programming With Major Universal and Fortune Star Deals
CHICAGO, NCTA, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbelt TV, the first and only 24-hour Martial Arts Entertainment Cable Network, today announced a major addition to its martial arts entertainment library which already includes over 20,000 hours of programming from the biggest Hollywood studios and leading worldwide fight organizations. The programming coup includes an unprecedented acquisitions deal with News Corp's Fortune Star and a deal with Universal Domestic Television for their martial arts film and TV libraries. These deals position Blackbelt TV as the holder of the largest martial arts entertainment library in the world.
The Fortune Star acquisition calls for 30 movies a year over the next five years from the Asian media behemoth including contemporary Chinese/Hong Kong films and TV shows starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Michelle Yeoh, Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo Ping and many more. As one of the top providers of martial arts entertainment in the U.S., Universal has licensed a series of films and TV shows including "Double Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" and "Street Fighter" as well as hit action flicks like the Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer "Hard Target" and "Vanishing Son."
"At Blackbelt TV, we're committed to serving the hundreds of millions of martial arts entertainment fans throughout the world. With Universal we have now secured the key martial arts titles from three of the major U.S. Studios and our partnership with Fortune Star, the world's largest contemporary Chinese movie library, will ensure a steady flow of heart stopping, leg flying martial arts movies many of which have never before been seen in the United States," said Paul Presburger, Blackbelt TV's Senior Vice President of Programming & Acquisitions.
The network is working directly with the biggest Hollywood studios to bring the best martial arts films and TV shows to their new home on television. Blackbelt TV has assembled the largest martial arts entertainment and sports library in the world from leading worldwide fight organizations and Hollywood studios including Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Totaling over 20,000 hours, the library consists of some of the greatest martial arts films of all times including "Enter the Dragon," "Once Upon A Time in China," "The Karate Kid," "Drunken Master," "Double Impact," "Out For Justice;" classic and new martial arts television series such as "Kung Fu" and "Mortal Kombat Conquest;" exclusive and never-before-seen fights from all over the world including "World Championship Kickboxing from Thailand," "Mixed Martial Arts from Japan," "Boxing from Europe and the U.S.," "Judo from Korea;" Japanese animation; health, fitness and self defense programming as well as original shows like "Soul of the Champion."
"Blackbelt TV is well-positioned to capture the enormous business opportunities brought forward by an insatiable appetite across the globe for martial arts movies. We are thrilled with the alliance which enables Fortune Star to showcase its extensive martial arts library to a wider and more targeted audience base," said Peter Poon, General Manager of Fortune Star.
"Blackbelt TV provides the perfect platform for our slate of top martial arts movies and television shows, and we are very pleased to be in business with them," said Arthur Hasson, Executive Vice President, Sales & New Business, for Universal Domestic Television.
Blackbelt TV's programming unites the biggest celebrities in martial arts entertainment including Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Chow Yun Fat, Steven Seagal, Sammo Hung, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Yuen Woo Ping of "Matrix" fame.
Blackbelt TV's on-air look and feel is created by its sister company Threshold Digital Research Labs (TDRL), one of Hollywood's leading digital animation and visual effects companies. The feature film quality bumpers, interstitials and Network IDs will be created by the same digital wizards that produce special effects, theme-park attractions, and animation for MGM, Miramax, Paramount and others.
Blackbelt TV is hosted by gorgeous female "Fight Jocks" who provide humorous, sexy and no holds barred interstitial commentary.
Blackbelt TV is headed by leading entertainment and cable executives with established track records in starting new enterprises and producing successful branded, mainstream properties. Together their credits include blockbuster feature films like "True Lies" and "Mortal Kombat;" hit TV shows like "Babylon 5;" technology breakthroughs like the first digital movie and digitally recorded score; theme park attractions like "King Kong," "Robocop" and "Earthquake;" studio experience including Sony, Disney and Vestron; and cable TV experience including BET, VH-1, Animax, Sony Entertainment Television, Discovery Networks, and AXN.
-- Larry Kasanoff is Chairman of Blackbelt TV and producer of all Mortal
Kombat media. Formerly president and co-founder with James Cameron of
Lightstorm Entertainment, he supervised production of "Terminator 2:
Judgment Day" and executive produced "True Lies."
-- COO Wesley Hein was co-founder of Enigma Digital, a network of radio
stations acquired by Clear Channel Communications. He was president
and co-founder Enigma Records (acquired by EMI/Capitol) as well as EVP
of Disney's Hollywood Records. In 1995, he co-founded Cinebase
Software, a developer of digital technology solutions for studios and
TV networks.
-- President Joshua Wexler previously managed the operations of Threshold
TV forming partnerships with IBM, Sprint & Intel. He associate
produced and wrote the story for "Mortal Kombat Annihilation," produced
the "Mortal Kombat" CD-ROM and the "Mortal Kombat" animated series. He
is co-producing the upcoming Duke Nukem feature film.
-- Dwight Crawford is CFO. He most recently held the position of EVP/CFO
at Black Entertainment Television and was Senior VP/Treasurer at
Discovery Communications.
-- Paul Presburger is SVP of Programming & Acquisitions. He previously
held at a similar position at Columbia Tristar International Television
where he was instrumental in launching Sony's 24-hour action-adventure
channel AXN around the globe and developed strategic programming
relationships for the Japanese animation channel Animax.
-- CTO George Johnsen founded digital audio studio EFX pioneering the
first digital film, theme park, recorded score and TV show. He also
produced the hit Sci-Fi TV series "Babylon 5." As a developer of
technologies for the entertainment industry he works with IBM, Sony,
Audio Technica and Crown.
-- Lisa Kruglov is SVP of Sales. She was formerly VP of Business
Development at Respond TV and headed up Creative Bus Dev & Sales for
CBS O&Os. Her client list includes leading companies such as AT&T,
Ford, Coca Cola, Mastercard, Proctor & Gamble, Sears and more.
-- Monica Halpert heads Blackbelt TV's creative and branding activities.
She was formerly SVP/Creative Director for VH-1 Networks and Executive
Creative Director for Cisneros Television Group where she oversaw all
creative aspects for the launch of the company's television networks.
About Fortune Star:
Fortune Star, a wholly-owned subsidiary of STAR, is the content arm of STAR for distribution, production and commissioning of its programming content. STAR owns the world's largest contemporary Chinese language movie library with worldwide rights in perpetuity to Golden Harvest, Golden Princess and D&B titles, which include "Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury," "Big Boss;" Jackie Chan's "Police Story 1, 2 and 3," Jet Li's "Once Upon A Time in China 1, 2, 3" and Chow Yun-fat's "Better Tomorrow 1,2, 3." Fortune STAR has also spearheaded several production initiatives including the action drama series "Devil's Blues."
SOURCE Blackbelt TV
CHICAGO, NCTA, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbelt TV, the first and only 24-hour Martial Arts Entertainment Cable Network, today announced a major addition to its martial arts entertainment library which already includes over 20,000 hours of programming from the biggest Hollywood studios and leading worldwide fight organizations. The programming coup includes an unprecedented acquisitions deal with News Corp's Fortune Star and a deal with Universal Domestic Television for their martial arts film and TV libraries. These deals position Blackbelt TV as the holder of the largest martial arts entertainment library in the world.
The Fortune Star acquisition calls for 30 movies a year over the next five years from the Asian media behemoth including contemporary Chinese/Hong Kong films and TV shows starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Michelle Yeoh, Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo Ping and many more. As one of the top providers of martial arts entertainment in the U.S., Universal has licensed a series of films and TV shows including "Double Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" and "Street Fighter" as well as hit action flicks like the Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer "Hard Target" and "Vanishing Son."
"At Blackbelt TV, we're committed to serving the hundreds of millions of martial arts entertainment fans throughout the world. With Universal we have now secured the key martial arts titles from three of the major U.S. Studios and our partnership with Fortune Star, the world's largest contemporary Chinese movie library, will ensure a steady flow of heart stopping, leg flying martial arts movies many of which have never before been seen in the United States," said Paul Presburger, Blackbelt TV's Senior Vice President of Programming & Acquisitions.
The network is working directly with the biggest Hollywood studios to bring the best martial arts films and TV shows to their new home on television. Blackbelt TV has assembled the largest martial arts entertainment and sports library in the world from leading worldwide fight organizations and Hollywood studios including Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Totaling over 20,000 hours, the library consists of some of the greatest martial arts films of all times including "Enter the Dragon," "Once Upon A Time in China," "The Karate Kid," "Drunken Master," "Double Impact," "Out For Justice;" classic and new martial arts television series such as "Kung Fu" and "Mortal Kombat Conquest;" exclusive and never-before-seen fights from all over the world including "World Championship Kickboxing from Thailand," "Mixed Martial Arts from Japan," "Boxing from Europe and the U.S.," "Judo from Korea;" Japanese animation; health, fitness and self defense programming as well as original shows like "Soul of the Champion."
"Blackbelt TV is well-positioned to capture the enormous business opportunities brought forward by an insatiable appetite across the globe for martial arts movies. We are thrilled with the alliance which enables Fortune Star to showcase its extensive martial arts library to a wider and more targeted audience base," said Peter Poon, General Manager of Fortune Star.
"Blackbelt TV provides the perfect platform for our slate of top martial arts movies and television shows, and we are very pleased to be in business with them," said Arthur Hasson, Executive Vice President, Sales & New Business, for Universal Domestic Television.
Blackbelt TV's programming unites the biggest celebrities in martial arts entertainment including Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Chow Yun Fat, Steven Seagal, Sammo Hung, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Yuen Woo Ping of "Matrix" fame.
Blackbelt TV's on-air look and feel is created by its sister company Threshold Digital Research Labs (TDRL), one of Hollywood's leading digital animation and visual effects companies. The feature film quality bumpers, interstitials and Network IDs will be created by the same digital wizards that produce special effects, theme-park attractions, and animation for MGM, Miramax, Paramount and others.
Blackbelt TV is hosted by gorgeous female "Fight Jocks" who provide humorous, sexy and no holds barred interstitial commentary.
Blackbelt TV is headed by leading entertainment and cable executives with established track records in starting new enterprises and producing successful branded, mainstream properties. Together their credits include blockbuster feature films like "True Lies" and "Mortal Kombat;" hit TV shows like "Babylon 5;" technology breakthroughs like the first digital movie and digitally recorded score; theme park attractions like "King Kong," "Robocop" and "Earthquake;" studio experience including Sony, Disney and Vestron; and cable TV experience including BET, VH-1, Animax, Sony Entertainment Television, Discovery Networks, and AXN.
-- Larry Kasanoff is Chairman of Blackbelt TV and producer of all Mortal
Kombat media. Formerly president and co-founder with James Cameron of
Lightstorm Entertainment, he supervised production of "Terminator 2:
Judgment Day" and executive produced "True Lies."
-- COO Wesley Hein was co-founder of Enigma Digital, a network of radio
stations acquired by Clear Channel Communications. He was president
and co-founder Enigma Records (acquired by EMI/Capitol) as well as EVP
of Disney's Hollywood Records. In 1995, he co-founded Cinebase
Software, a developer of digital technology solutions for studios and
TV networks.
-- President Joshua Wexler previously managed the operations of Threshold
TV forming partnerships with IBM, Sprint & Intel. He associate
produced and wrote the story for "Mortal Kombat Annihilation," produced
the "Mortal Kombat" CD-ROM and the "Mortal Kombat" animated series. He
is co-producing the upcoming Duke Nukem feature film.
-- Dwight Crawford is CFO. He most recently held the position of EVP/CFO
at Black Entertainment Television and was Senior VP/Treasurer at
Discovery Communications.
-- Paul Presburger is SVP of Programming & Acquisitions. He previously
held at a similar position at Columbia Tristar International Television
where he was instrumental in launching Sony's 24-hour action-adventure
channel AXN around the globe and developed strategic programming
relationships for the Japanese animation channel Animax.
-- CTO George Johnsen founded digital audio studio EFX pioneering the
first digital film, theme park, recorded score and TV show. He also
produced the hit Sci-Fi TV series "Babylon 5." As a developer of
technologies for the entertainment industry he works with IBM, Sony,
Audio Technica and Crown.
-- Lisa Kruglov is SVP of Sales. She was formerly VP of Business
Development at Respond TV and headed up Creative Bus Dev & Sales for
CBS O&Os. Her client list includes leading companies such as AT&T,
Ford, Coca Cola, Mastercard, Proctor & Gamble, Sears and more.
-- Monica Halpert heads Blackbelt TV's creative and branding activities.
She was formerly SVP/Creative Director for VH-1 Networks and Executive
Creative Director for Cisneros Television Group where she oversaw all
creative aspects for the launch of the company's television networks.
About Fortune Star:
Fortune Star, a wholly-owned subsidiary of STAR, is the content arm of STAR for distribution, production and commissioning of its programming content. STAR owns the world's largest contemporary Chinese language movie library with worldwide rights in perpetuity to Golden Harvest, Golden Princess and D&B titles, which include "Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury," "Big Boss;" Jackie Chan's "Police Story 1, 2 and 3," Jet Li's "Once Upon A Time in China 1, 2, 3" and Chow Yun-fat's "Better Tomorrow 1,2, 3." Fortune STAR has also spearheaded several production initiatives including the action drama series "Devil's Blues."
SOURCE Blackbelt TV