Black Belt TV -- warrior babes only :(

Dana Sheets · Post by **Dana Sheets** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 2:22 am

You can view the entire article at:
http://www.etonline.com/reuters/N10371074.htm

Blackbelt TV Kicks Off Cable Network Venture
Thurs. Oct 10
By Susan Heavey; Reuters/Variety TV

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 and Jet Li.

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.

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'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."

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."...

KerryM · Post by **KerryM** » Fri Nov 22, 2002 3:47 am

Sounds cool-

What IS IT with those flying scenes! I wanna do that! (asked hub for a harness and lift *hydrolic* for Christmas LOL)

Ya know I really am curious about that- is there some legend or style or something where something close to that is taught? Obviously the Asian/Chinese/Japanese culture believes there is something in it- "where" is that something? Granted we can't fly- but I wanna know the secret! LOL

Dana Sheets · Post by **Dana Sheets** » Fri Nov 22, 2002 9:58 pm

My concern is that only good looking women (by western media standards) will be on the channel. And the women are going to be portrayed as sex-pots that hang like drapes on the arms of the men fighting in the rings. And that the only place for women in martial arts is to either be exceptional hollywood movie stars, or we should be happy hanging on the arms of the men who fight.

Dana

KerryM · Post by **KerryM** » Sat Nov 23, 2002 2:32 am

Dana-

If that turns out to be the case- I'm not watching it. Real people, have real bodies. and a good style, is one that allows the practitioner to work with what they have- and doesn't judge them for what they don't. ALSO- If this station wants to be realistic and not Hollywood orientated- IT BETTER have us "real-people" doing "real work" or or or.... I'll just be ticked and not watch LOL.

that would ******- there's enough people out there doing martial arts- (I mean real people) who would watch the channel for real stuff not just pretty hair, and T n A jobs. (Pardon please)

K

TSDguy · Post by **TSDguy** » Sat Nov 23, 2002 7:29 am

"My concern is that only good looking women (by western media standards) will be on the channel."

Only good looking people of either gender will be on any channel. And in any case it's awfully hard to be unnatractive for either gender when you're a professional athlete, curling aside.

KerryM · Post by **KerryM** » Sat Nov 23, 2002 3:14 pm

TS
what you say is true- but IMHO it's a great big cheat and waste of money when you see women proffessional athletes with "large" chests- because if you ARE an athlete (which I'm not) that's one of the first things to "go" as opposed to "grow" . I just hope that the people on there won't be "Hollywood" oriented as Dana suggested might happen- but are real people doing real stuff- There's lots of good looking people in the world- that's no crime- but I wouldn't watch a black-belt- "Bay-Watch" . LOL

K-

Akil Todd Harvey · Post by **Akil Todd Harvey** » Wed Nov 27, 2002 8:59 am

Greetings & Salutations,

Like the rest of you folks, this martial arts television channel has me concerned. There is great potential in such a channel to be where the public could be informed & educated about the martial arts, while also having the potential to be yet again another place where martial arts are mystified and mythified (not quite sure these are actual words) as hollywood has done so many times before.

What I hope is the same as you folks mentioned, not wanting it to become black belt 'baywatch'.

What I hope is that, like music television (originally MTV) went from being only a single channel, to being many channels. Thus, if there were more than a single channel of martial arts, different ones could be for different type programs.

Perhaps they would be differentiated based upon type of art, like grappling versus striking arts. Or perhaps the different channels might be segregated by the type of content, like fantasy versus more educationally related programs.

Keep in mind that there used to be only a single music television station and now there are so many more than that. Over time, there ought to be opportunity to have more than a single station as cable and satellite service add more and more channels (it might be even ten or twenty years down the road).

Would a more differentiated market of multiple channels with different formats be better or worse than just a single channel trying to be everything for everybody?

Dana Sheets · Post by **Dana Sheets** » Thu Nov 28, 2002 12:25 am

Many channels would be better. But unless some of them are access or non-proft it's going to come down to money.

Each new medium for sending information or each new channel on the cable dial does not create one new dollar for consumers to spend on products. Since cable channels survive by the number of subscriptions they have to providers, and providers survive through the number of households they have and the amount of ad space they can sell based on viewership...black belt television is competing with the golf channel, with Lifetime TV, with ESPN and ESPN2, etc.

All we need is a rich, educationally minded martial artist to fund the channel out of pocket...wouldn't that be nice?
Dana

LeeDarrow · Post by **LeeDarrow** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 3:48 pm

TSDguy wrote:"My concern is that only good looking women (by western media standards) will be on the channel."

Only good looking people of either gender will be on any channel. And in any case it's awfully hard to be unnatractive for either gender when you're a professional athlete, curling aside.

Have you watcher The Sopranos, lately? Hardly a good looking bunch in the secondary cast. Look at Sipowicz on NYPD Blue. He's anything BUT good looking, but, when he did the nude scene on the show, women were falling all over themselves for him. Why? He's got a real, human bod, not the bod of someone who, because of network contracts or studio requirements, spends 4 hours every day at the gym.

Let's hope the network decides to show more than just battling babes, brawling bravos and the like, but alsocovers the more spiritual aspects of the art - the ART portion of martial arts, as opposed to just the hitting part.

Respectfully,

Lee Darrow, C.Ht.