EPIX Premiere of “Amar’e Stoudemire IN THE MOMENT”

Amar’e Stoudemire, power forward for the New York Knicks, is a force both on and off the court and one of the most recognizable athletes in the country. While his story about dedication and perseverance to the game of basketball is fascinating to watch, it isn’t the most surprising part of the EPIX Original Documentary Amar’e Stoudemire: In The Moment. Rather, it’s the background of his story that truly makes the film something to behold – including honest perspective on a tough upbringing, an intimate view into his everyday devotion to his family, and candid conversations about staying positive in the face of setback, something EPIX took to heart.

With the documentary done and ready to go, all hands were on deck for promotion, and then roughly one month before its premiere, Amar’e suffered a knee injury that would sideline him from the game for an indefinite period of time. The question before EPIX was what to do with a documentary chronicling Stoudemire’s goal to win a championship when he was now injured. Without any time to waste, the decision was made to reenter production and stick with the original premiere date, April 19, the eve of the playoffs. The result was an even more honest film – giving fans the whole story of Amar’e’s commitment through a very recent surgery and rehab process, and allow viewers to watch his story unfold in real time as Amar’e works to get back on the court in time to help the Knicks prevail in the Playoffs.

All the hard work paid off, with tremendous response and fanfare for Amar’e and EPIX with a major premiere event in NYC with Amar’e and other Knicks in attendance, including Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Chris Copeland and Iman Shumpert.  As fans wait for the return of Amar’e, we’re right there with them cheering on the Knicks.

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After his warm-up with Roger Federer at Kids Tennis Day 2013 in Australia, SpongeBob SquarePants can add the tennis superstar to the growing list of athletes and celebrities he’s squared off with on the field or court (including the likes of FLOTUS Michelle Obama and David Beckham). The free family event gave kids a day of activities and a chance to interact with their tennis heroes, from Federer to Serena Williams.

Produced by Nickelodeon for the first time with Tennis Australia, Kids Tennis Day 2013 was the biggest of its kind at Melbourne Park and helped promote MLC Tennis Hot Shots (MLCTHS), Tennis Australia’s junior development program, on the weekend before the beginning of the Australian Open.

The largest drawcard of Kids Tennis Day was the Rod Laver Arena Spectacular, which featured Nickelodeoncharacters SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Starfish, Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego, as they played tennis with some of the sport’s biggest names, including Federer, Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ana Ivanovic. Plus, it was hosted by the network’s Luke and Wyatt and featured a rocking performance from music star Guy Sebastian.

Luke and Wyatt introduced the players and grouped them into two teams: Team Doraand Team SpongeBob. The players proceeded to entertain the crowd by showcasing an array of trick shots and kidding around.

Crowd favourite Federer amused fans by warming up with SpongeBob before playing, and at one point put his racquet down to undertake ball boy duties, while Tsonga showed off his ability to fire shots from deep in the court – through his legs. Djokovic, well known for his showmanship, had the crowd roaring with laughter at his antics.  Fans were entertained by his high-pitched and excessive grunting, his head-butting of the ball over the net, and a brief performance of the Gangnam Style dance, joined by Williams.

The crowd loved the long rallies between all the players, which included smashes and lobs exchanged ping-pong style.

Nickelodeon’s GM Ben Richardson and MLCTHS leader Craig Morris said they were thrilled with the day, with the close-to-capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena surpassing the previous year’s numbers beyond expectations.

“Kids Tennis Day has been deemed a huge success and proven to be a wonderful partnership between Nickelodeon and Tennis Australia,” said Richardson. “The star power of the tennis players combined with the popularity of the Nickelodeon characters certainly made it an unforgettable day of free entertainment for families.”

Elsewhere on the grounds, the outside courts were brimming with youngsters having a hit under the eye of MLC Tennis Hot Shots coaches, while others enjoyed the activity zone or had their faces painted. Five hundredMLC Hot Shots tennis racquets were given out at Kids Tennis Day to encourage kids to play the sport.

Check out the video below for more, courtesy of Channel Seven News.

The post Roger Federer, SpongeBob Square Off at Kids Tennis Day appeared first on Viacom Corporate.

According to an ESPN survey, Hispanic Americans love mixed martial arts and professional wrestling. In households that communicate mostly or entirely in Spanish, combat sports are second to soccer. In English-speaking Hispanic households, combat sports trail only soccer and the NFL.

Originating from the full contact sport of Vale tudo in Brazil, the sport was created with minimal rules, and was promoted as a competition to determine the most effective martial art for unarmed combat situations. It wasn’t long before the fighters realized that if they wanted to be competitive among the best, they needed to train in additional disciplines. Fighters began to morph into well-rounded, balanced fighters that could fight standing or on the floor. This blend of fighting styles and skills became known as mixed martial arts (MMA).

Today, with a solid roster of fights every year, organizations host most of the top-ranked fighters in the world. Events are held not only in America, but also in many countries all over the globe. MMA is considered to be safer than boxing because once a fighter is knocked out, they are not given a chance to get up and continue fighting. In boxing, if a fighter gets up within 10 seconds, the fight goes on.

Bellator, one of the most recognizable MMA promotional organization, recognizes its Latino fans and has broadcast fights and commentary on Spanish and bilingual networks catering to the Hispanic Millennials. Bellator is known for its robust group of Latino fighters and thus, is hugely popular with this audience.

Veteran MMA fans agree that once the sport gains visibility in Latin America, it will spread like crazy and fighters will be coming in from the wood works in the next five to ten years.

This is a market that is waiting to be tapped, especially in the United States. It coming years, programming to showcase the lives of fighters along with the bouts themselves will be commonplace in television lineups; English and Spanish. The future of fighting is on its way.

Sources: Bellator.com, BleacherReport.com, UFC.com, ESPN.com

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Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler has been nominated for inclusion in the prestigious ESPN The Magazine “Next” issue. Let’s help our Bellator champ knockout the competition… just head here to do so! Voting on ESPN.com ends this Friday, Dec. 14.

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Hulk Hogan visits our NYC headquarters to discuss the future of TNA Impact Wrestling.

With a legendary pro-wrestling career spanning more than 30 years, Hulk Hogan is an icon and a household name. But after catching up with him in our NYC headquarters, it was clear that he’s also a businessman, who sees in TNA Impact Wrestling the opportunity for a billion-dollar business. With the promise of the combined revenues from TV, pay-per-view, live venue ticket sales as well as ancillary licensing and merchandising revenues, Hogan has in turn invested himself in the pro-wrestling league, which airs live every Thursday (8/7c) on Spike TV.

It’s a format and a business Hulk personally believes in. Whereas other wrestling leagues air live once a week and reinforce their programming daily, TNA hones in on Thursday nights, leaving the viewers on the edges of their seats for the week – something Hulk believes is critical for success in a media universe where viewers are inundated with options. 

During our conversation, Hogan’s “Off The Record” T-shirt (above) became increasingly ironic. He held back nothing as he opened up about the future of TNA, the pro-wrestling league’s winning formula and his fans. Here’s what he had to say…

“TNA…is ready to launch.”

The future of TNA – it’s kind of like… ready to launch. They did a great job of establishing a company for the last 9 years that everybody said wouldn’t be around longer than 6 months. Dixie Carter and all the TNA originals have worked long and hard to get the company to a certain place. They tagged me in a couple years ago and the first year and a half, I couldn’t really figure out how to get in the ring because there are a lot of creative people that didn’t have an arc or storyline. They were just kneejerk writing from week-to-week. Once we figured out how to get me in the ring, things have been consistent. It’s not wrestling how it used to be – it’s wrestling how it should be.

When I say it’s ready to launch, the talent is performing at optimal levels. Creatively we aren’t having problems. It feels exactly like the old WCW when I was filming Disney for Ted Turner, for Dixie Carter at Universal and TNA. It’s kind of like the destiny is in Dixie and her parents hands because at this point; Ted Turner threw millions of millions of millions of dollars to put the show on the road, to get out of the studio environment, to get live arenas to make it tangible so the audience felt like it was a real wrestling company, not a studio production. And you know, in talking with Dixie and her parents who are very gracious and very kind – I sat and had dinner with them one time – I explained to them that this is like the golden goose. There is an opportunity to turn this into a billion-dollar business…with the TV revenue, the pay-per-view revenue, the live venue revenue and the fourth leg on the table which is the licensing and merchandising. You really need to turn this into a real wrestling company and get out of the studio and move forward. There will be a small transition period where it feels awkward, but with the revenue generated in ticket sales at the live arenas and really stepping up your merchandising ancillary stuff, the energy full-circles back and you find yourself on even ground pretty quickly. It works itself out. It’s ready to launch!

He’s personally invested in the franchise – and he believes in it. By keeping what works, but making it a priority to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats in a cluttered media landscape, Hulk thinks they’ve nailed a foolproof formula for success.

History repeats itself. WWE is the NFL. They’re on cruise control, they’re PG, they appeal to pre-teens and teens. Their target audience isn’t that hardcore wrestling audience and they’ve been very smart. They give three hours of programming a week on just one night – and they have programming every single day in some form or another. And I’m not saying the programming is contrived at all, but it’s hard to be new and surprising and it sometimes gets very repetitive when you see them over and over again – you see them Monday and they’re reinforced throughout the week. It makes you look for other choices. The timing is perfect right now for us. It is something that’s very very possible – it’s not rocket science, it’s not reinventing the wheel. We know it works and Vince MacMahon has proven it time and time again. He’s very consistent. The great part about it is if there are two players in the marketplace, everybody wins. The viewership will double itself. People will flip back-and-forth. It’ll make Vince’s product better because he’ll be more competitive because we’re alive and well, so it all works.

In a fast-paced world where the guys move more quickly, Hulk Hogan is reinstating the art form in pro-wrestling…

If I bring anything to [the leage], I bring the art form and the common sense in trying to get everyone grounded.. So what does it mean? You take a guy and you body slam him on the concrete, and the guy gets up quicker than you even turn around. I bring rationale – try to reinstate the art form in these guys that are very proficient and able at the physicalities. I’m trying to establish the art form of telling a story and making the audience want to return to see what you’re doing because there are so many other choices entertainment-wise – within the Viacom family, on cable, satellite. You’ve really got to work hard to leave people on the edge of their seats and continue the saga.

We’ve got a very powerful creative team that writes and they do a great job – I like walking in and expressing my opinion. At the end of the day it’s Dixie Carter’s decision, but I’m very aggressive about being opinionated. But I pick my wars, I pick my fights, and we’re all on the same team at the end of the day.

“My fans are a life support system.”

They’ve always been there through the good times. Surprisingly, but not surprisingly anymore, they’ve been there through all of the bad times. On a personal level, there was a short period of time in my life where everybody close to me disappeared. And the fans were still there. So it’s kind of unbelievable – that whether I’m a good guy or a bad guy – whether I rob the bank or catch the crook – whatever happens in my life – the fans are loyal to a fault. Even to a point where a wrestling promotion can precondition them to try to boo me – and I can step in the ring with the ultimate good guy like the Rock and they’ll boo him out of the building simply because the fans are that loyal. They’re smart. You cannot tell them who to love. They’re really the foundation of my career, my success, even into my personal life. They make me believe in me when sometimes I could have said “you know what, you’re not worth believing in.” They’ve kept me alive. It’s been a pretty strong relationship – they’re still there as we speak and it’s been this long.

Digital media has helped keep Hulk in the conversation even after 30 years – and creatively, it’s kept him on his toes.

Before the Internet, I could have started a feud with you right now. And we could have wrestled in Tampa, FL. And I could have pulled the carpet out from under you in Tampa, Florida, and we could have gone to San Francisco and I could have pulled the carpet out from under you, and nobody would have known. But if this happened today, instantly, all over the world, they know. It makes you stay on your toes more, makes you stay more creative. Also, the Internet has had a way to keep me prevalent and made people very aware. Kids that are just now 5- and 6-years-old are telling me how much they love me because of my match with Mr. T and The Rock and that was like 35 years ago. So the Internet has been a very valuable tool to keep my career alive.

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Similar to their parents and grandparents’ innate passion for soccer, this new generation of Latinos fans loves cheering for their home team and experiencing the excitement of the competition. The NFL provides Latinos with the ultimate sports experience they’re accustomed to: a game packed with action, incredible skills and amazing plays. Even the older generation is acclimating to the football scene.

During the regular season, Latino football fans spend nearly 15 hours engaged with the NFL each week. According to the NFLHispanic.com, last year’s Super Bowl was the ‘most watched’ TV program ever among Latinos, averaging ten million Latino viewers. With a rising number of young Hispanic NFL stars, such as the charismatic Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets, it’s no surprise that Hispanic Millennials love their American football. Sports columnists are likening Mark Sanchez’s rise in popularity to “Fernandomania,” the period in which Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Fernando Valenzuela helped significantly grow the Hispanic fan base.

Historically, Latinos share a sports-fanatic attitude and are extremely loyal to their home teams witnessed during the World Cup soccer matches. Therefore it is no surprise that the NFL is fervently courting Latino sports enthusiasts for these traits. In 2012, the NFL ramped up its efforts to engage and acknowledge Latino fans for Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated annually from September 15 through October 15. Each NFL team saluted Hispanic culture and showed appreciation for its Latino fans during a home game.

High-profile Hispanics were invited by the NFL to help kickoff the month-long celebration of Hispanic culture and football fans during the Baltimore Ravens home game. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Rhett Hernandez performed the coin toss and Javier Colón, winner of the 2011 season of NBC’s The Voice, performed the national anthem.

To show their appreciation to Latino football fans, the NFL partners with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) for its NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Awards. Each award recipient is recognized in-stadium at a Hispanic Heritage game in their local market and given $3,000 to donate to an organization of their choice that serves the local Hispanic community.

As the celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month come to a close, the NFL continues stay digitally connected to its Latino fan base and shines a spotlight on the rising Latinos stars on the field. Advertisers and marketers in recent years have begun cultivating budgets and campaigns dedicated to reaching Hispanic Millennials who love football. Even though this segment of the Hispanic population continues to embrace their American roots and home teams, they still desire to stay connected to their Hispanic heritage. The NFL scores a touchdown with keeping its Latino fans engaged and appreciated. Advertisers only need to keep pace with the league.

Sources: NFLCommunications.com, NFLHispanic.com, Fox News Latinos

The post Latinos Enjoying Más Football appeared first on Viacom Corporate.

June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash (Photo: Don Hunstien, courtesy of CMT.com)

I’m watching the Dallas Cowboys play the Chicago Bears tonight, the first of October. This is a pretty pathetic performance by a Dallas assemblage that has so long been heralded as “America’s Team.” The Bears intercept poor, inept Dallas QB Tony Romo five times tonight. The Cowboys are once again humiliated. Totally crushed. Stomped into their expensive artificial turf by the score of 34-18.

This game was in the majestic, new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, the looming, glistening mothership from outer space, where the ‘Boy’ win-loss record is now 14-12 since moving into this enormous Swankienda. The Dallas Cowboys’ lifetime win-loss-tie record from 1960 through 2011 is 481-357-6. Yet they still get away with calling themselves “America’s Team” as a corporate marketing effort. Which remains very successful.

One drawback about the stadium, which is actually located in Arlington, is that there’s very little public transport there from Dallas, Fort Worth or from anywhere else. It’s totally a car culture in this area.

When the Cowboys’ original Texas Stadium opened in 1971, it was inaugurated by a 10-day evangelical Billy Graham crusade, presided over by the crusade’s chairman, Cowboys coach Tom Landry, with former president Lyndon Johnson and first lady Lady Bird Johnson and country music icon Johnny and first lady icon June Carter Cash onstage, as well.

From my childhood in Fort Worth, the Cowboys were the ideal for me and my friends. I still remember, as a kid, being awed by meeting and shaking hands with Dallas running back Dan Reeves in the Fort Worth department store, Leonard’s. Growing up in Fort Worth, my heroes and my friends’ heroes were the Cowboys. Our local TCU football team, in what was then a strong Southwest Conference, was a punching bag in those years.

But the Cowboys were a source of regional pride. They were big and strong and proud. They beat the snotty big-city New York Giants. They stomped the arrogant East Coast Washington Redskins. They were the standard-bearers for Texas.

The Cowboys were also the impetus for a major technological push in the Southwest. Cowboys’ fans, especially in suburban and rural areas, bought satellite dishes in record numbers so they could get their by-God Cowboys games every week. And, as my family members’ history attests, Cowboys fans easily moved on from satellite technology to computers and onto the Internet.

Of all the NFL teams, the Cowboys’ history is unmatched for drama. Now, Texas writer Joe Nick Patoski, whose last book was a comprehensive — and highly readable — biography of Willie Nelson, has written a massive history of the “‘Pokes,” as the Dallas Times Herald newspaper liked to abbreviate them in headlines. ‘Pokes = Cowpokes = Cowboys. Get it?

Patoski’s huge 805-page work is titled The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, Most Hated, Best Loved Football Team in America. I love well-told sports history, which also encompasses urban and regional history. Patoski accomplishes all that in this well-researched work.

But it’s the characters themselves that propel this book along. Characters such as the country music-singing QB Dandy Don Meredith, whom Howard Cosell dubbed “the Danderoo” when they, along with former New York Giant Frank Gifford, were the commentators on Monday Night Football. Meredith’s finest moment may have come on one telecast, when a single solitary fan was sitting in the otherwise isolated upper deck. The camera focused in on him and he raised a feisty up-yours one-fingered salute. The camera shot lingered for an uncomfortably long time, and Meredith finally broke the tension by observing, “He’s just saying that we’re No. 1.”

He also was famous for singing Willie Nelson’s “The Party’s Over” on game telecasts when it became obvious the game’s outcome was already decided, no matter how much time was left.

Cowboys’ characters were legend. Such as Bubbles Cash, the young stripper who — as a fan in the stadium — turned cotton candy dancing into an art form when the early Cowboys played at the Cotton Bowl. She and her abbreviated costume and dancing became the template for the later Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders’ look and demeanor.

Cowboys’ original president and GM Tex Schramm (who was from San Gabriel, Calif.) later filed suit against Pussycat Cinemas Ltd. for copyright infringement for the movie Debbie Does Dallas, claiming it harmed the Cowboys Cheerleaders’ brand. Go figure.

Or Crazy Ray, the black man dressed up in full cowboy regalia, who paraded up and down the sidelines during games, riding a toy wooden horse and waving toy six-shooters. By day, he shined shoes at a downtown barber shop. On Sundays, he was the image of the Cowboys and a favorite of NFL telecast highlights.

And, of course, there was the dour and stoic coach Tom Landry, who — as far as I’m concerned — is the only real coach the Cowboys have ever had. Even my mother liked the Cowboys because Coach Landry always wore a coat and tie and hat on the sidelines. Unlike this guy in New England these days who distinguishes himself by wearing a cheap team sweatshirt on the sidelines.

The Cowboys have also inspired novels and movies, the best of which is North Dallas Forty, the book by ex-Cowboys player Peter Gent. The movie starred Nick Nolte as a very convincing banged-up and doped-up pro footballer.

And there remains the ongoing soap opera that is the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. His first act was to fire Tom Landry. Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson did not get along since Jones knew more about coaching than any mere coach. Their head-banging came to an end at an NFL owners meeting at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Jones came up to a table where Johnson was drinking with a number of former Cowboys employees, whom Jones had fired, and their wives. Jones banged on the table with his glass of scotch and proposed a toast to the Cowboys and all those ‘Boys employees who had contributed to two straight Super Bowl wins. No one at the table lifted a glass in the toast.

“F**k you,” Jones said. “Have your own party!”

Jimmy Johnson was soon fired as the Cowboys’ coach.

Chet Flippo is Editorial Director of CMT and CMT.com and the author of the NASHVILLE SKYLINE column above, which first appeared on CMT.com.

The post Dallas Cowboys: Rich As Gold, Country As Dirt New ‘Boys History Is a Larrupin’ appeared first on Viacom Corporate.

Spain finished off the UEFA 2012 European Football Championship in typical dominating fashion on Sunday, beating Italy 4-0 to win its third consecutive major international tournament.

Among the many subplots of the dramatic international contest was a tale of two Viacom cities: the company’s Spanish HQ in Madrid and its World Design Studio in Milan.

Ok, so maybe it’s a sub-subplot, but we checked in with our teams in both Spain and Italy for a peek at the excitement. Our Madrid team sent us the pic above from Plaza Colón, the main square right next to Viacom’s offices. Fans watched on screens that stretched the length of el Paseo de la Castellana from the Plaza to Bernabeu Stadium. The few businesses that were open on Sunday dedicated their storefronts to team merchandise.

Our Milan team sent along the photos below from Piazza Duomo, Milan’s biggest town square that sits just a few blocks from the World Design Studio. We’re told that employees there have become quite accustomed to the blare of vuvuzelas and igniting flares over the past few weeks.

Alicia Hosking of the Italy press team described the scene from Sunday’s match. “It was a sea of blue shirts, Italian flags, wigs, face paint and, typically, thousands of arms flailing in the air whenever the ref made a questionable decision,” she said.

The post Campeones, Campeones, Olé, Olé, Olé! appeared first on Viacom Corporate.

Fighters Daniel Straus (left) and Mike Corey connect during the Featherweight Seminfinal at Bellator 65 (Photo credit: Bellator.com)

However, on a Friday night last month, yesterday’s champions gave way to a newer breed of fighter, schooled more in judo, jujitsu and kickboxing than the sweet science.  The Bellator Fighting Champions had arrived in Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom for Bellator 65, the sixth fight card of the tournament-based MMA promotion’s sixth season.  With the steel cage in striking distance of Viacom’s New York City headquarters, we headed down the Garden State Parkway for a behind the scenes look at Bellator as it prepares to debut on Spike TV in 2013.

Viacom acquired a majority stake in Bellator in October 2011, as the sun set on Spike TV’s long-term broadcast partnership with the UFC.  It was an immensely successful relationship for both parties, but they ultimately decided to go their separate ways last year.  For its part, Spike TV had honed its expertise in marketing MMA, and wanted to put that capability to use for an MMA partner in which it had equity.

Bjorn Rebney, Chairman and CEO, Bellator (Photo credit: Bellator.com)

It was a window of opportunity that Bjorn Rebney, Chairman and CEO of Bellator, recalls hurling himself through.

“When this door opened, I was as pleasantly relentless as I could be to get this done,” he says.

Rebney, a former fight promoter, founded Bellator in 2008.  He conceived it with a primary point of differentiation from other MMA promotions: a single elimination tournament structure.  Fighters must advance through several rounds over the course of a season before reaching a title fight.   Bellator bills itself with the tagline, “Where title shots are earned, not given.”

Rebney knew, though, that Bellator would need more than a unique structure to outlast other MMA promotions – many of which have entered the market with mixed results.  According to Rebney, Bellator’s success relied on finding a media partner with tremendous power and reach, and expertise in marketing to the savvy and highly engaged MMA audience.  He saw Spike TV, and its work in building the UFC brand through programming including The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Unleashed, as the gold standard.

“When I first started this – envisioning what it could be – I always thought of Viacom.  But, at the time, that was like a little kid saying he wanted to be quarterback of the Giants,” he says.  “The elevation of the Bellator brand since we signed this partnership has been exponential.”

Indeed, Bellator aired 25 events on Viacom’s MTV2 and Viacom premium joint venture EPIX in 2011, and will air another 25 on the networks in 2012. The fights also run Sunday nights in Spanish on Tr3s.  The undercard matches for Bellator’s Friday night events stream live on Spike.com.  Bellator fights are covered heavily on MMA: Uncensored Live, Spike’s Thursday night MMA news program which, in its first season, is already the most-watched MMA news show on television.  And the Spike press machine has secured regular exposure for Bellator with ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Yahoo! and other major outlets.

But all this programming and press is prologue to the debut of Bellator on Spike TV in 2013.  In addition to airing Bellator’s Friday night events, Spike TV and Bellator announced last month that they are developing a reality series featuring Bellator fighters, under the guidance of Bertram van Munster, co-creator of The Amazing Race.  The one-hour reality series also comes to air in 2013.

With that debut still more than six months off, Spike TV has an unusual incubation period in which to refine and enhance the Bellator broadcast.  Under the watchful eyes of Rebney and Spike TV President Kevin Kay, that task falls to Scott Fishman, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of Spike TV.

Scott Fishman, Executive Producer, Bellator

Fishman is a 31-year veteran of Viacom.  He began his run with the company as a production assistant at MTV, when the channel was still in its infancy.  As MTV grew, so did Fishman’s responsibilities.  He quickly found himself directing VJ segments, then live concerts, the network’s Spring Break broadcasts, and its beloved Rock ‘n Jock competitions. That live sports experience helped make Fishman the top choice when Spike TV began programming sports and live events.  With the network, Fishman has served as executive producer for Slamball, TNA Impact Wrestling and, of course, UFC.  Fishman produced every live UFC fight on Spike TV from August 2005 through 2011.

With Bellator, Fishman finds himself at the helm of a production unlike anything else in the Viacom family. While Bellator is headquartered in Rebney’s native Chicago, nearly the entire operation is mobile, and rolls to new venues throughout North America on a weekly basis during the season.  The fleet of vehicles includes a half dozen tractor trailers and a horse trailer that houses a control room and two edit bays.  During Bellator 65, it occupies a large chunk of the airplane hangar-sized production garage in Boardwalk Hall.

Fishman sums up the intrinsic appeal of MMA nicely.  “Most people want to see people get punched,” he says with a laugh.  But the packaging of the fights is critical and, according to Fishman, his job is to “control everything that happens outside of the cage.” As such, the work of his team begins well before the first bell rings on Friday night.  The Bellator team usually arrives in town on the Tuesday before a fight and immediately gets to work producing and editing profile pieces on the week’s fighters – a focal point of Spike’s Bellator broadcast.  Fishman strives to set Bellator apart by focusing on the fighters as much as the fights themselves.

“We pride ourselves on storytelling,” Fishman says.  “We have tried very consciously with our fighters to tell you who they are, where they’re from, and why they compete.”

Rebney – a self-professed student of sports broadcasting legends like Roone Arledge – agrees.  “What we’re doing is allowing the stars to help build the brand,” he says.

“It’s all about caring,” Rebney continues. “The essence of what we do is getting people to care about people in the cage.  That’s what people are tuning in to see.”

It’s tough not to care about the people in the cage.  Thanks to Bellator’s tournament structure, they’re fighting for their professional lives every time they enter the ring.  And many of them come bearing compelling backstories.  The night we visited featured a Featherweight Semifinal matchup between Daniel Straus and Mike Corey.  Straus was fighting in memory of his close friend, MMA fighter Chris Smith, who was killed in a car accident in Ohio only days earlier.   Mike Corey’s corner man for the evening was his good friend and fellow Bellator fighter Pat Curran. If Corey had won, he would’ve had to fight Curran next (Straus ultimately prevailed).

Beyond storytelling, Fishman is constantly tweaking the production to even better convey the visceral impact of MMA combat.  Audio is a particular passion of his – maybe unsurprising, given his MTV background – and Fishman continuously pushes advancements on this front.  Recently, his team built a unique five-pronged microphone apparatus that hangs down over the center of the ring, capturing each crunch of bone in stunning clarity.  Fishman is also experimenting with never-before-seen camera angles to capture the fights, which he asked that we refrain from sharing here for competitive reasons.

The roadshow rapport among the entire crew was on clear display on fight night in Atlantic City.  During commercial breaks, Rebney chats as effortlessly with the camera guys as he does with the announcers.  From ringside, he calls back to the production office – to a virtual “Batphone” clearly marked “BJORN” – to trade thoughts on fights and show flow.  The ring girls, Jade and Mercedes, travel from city to city with the team, and watch the fights with genuine interest when not attending to their official duties.  And the production crew even has its own mascot, Bella – a bulldog fashioned by a crew member out of multi-colored sheet metal.  Bella is emblazoned with bumper stickers from Bellator ports of call like Laredo, Texas and Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.  We’re told she posed for a glamour shot on the boardwalk earlier in the day.

The team interacts with ease, and there’s an air of excitement and energy that surrounds the entire operation.  Rebney understands the opportunity Bellator’s partnership with Spike represents.

“Spike is where MMA fans live – nobody in the TV universe knows how to market to the demo and the space better,” he says.  “This is the most positive, collaborative process I’ve ever been a part of in the entertainment industry.”

As for where that collaboration takes Bellator in 2013 and beyond, Rebney has his thoughts.

“I never got into this business with the vision to be number two.”

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Under the executive production of Valderrama, The Ricardo Laguna Project takes a look inside Laguna’s outrageous life as he attempts to break three world records and start his own family business – all while balancing his close-knit Latin family and the temptations of the Las Vegas social scene.

Catch the premiere of The Ricardo Laguna Project today and every Wednesday at 9 p.m. Valderrama says it should be a “fun to watch” and “lighthearted, good half-hour of entertainment” – for more on the show, check out his and Laguna’s interview above.

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