Post it on the Bulletin Board

[KickChick]

Most schools have a bulletin board set up where the school will post news and info for students or where students can post articles and such (sometimes kids will draw pictures and they are posted).

 

I thought this would be a neat thread. Post a student tip, brief ma news article you have found or anything concerning instruction (give credit to author please!) ... anything you feel would warrant being put up in your school's bulletin board. If we like it we can print out your post and bring it to our own school bulletin boards (or refridgerators!)

 

For example... I brought this in the other day! This is a good one huh girls?? :pony:

 

http://www.budogirls.com/cartoons/funny/comic230.gif

[Patrick]

Here's one.

 

http://www.karateforums.com/img/karateforumsschool.gif

[KickChick]

HA HA! I was waiting for you to "pin that one up" Patrick!Thank you!

[Patrick]

[karatekid1975]

Here's a bit of news for ya. It's long, but worth the read:

 

Martial-Arts Channel Aims To Leap Onto Cable Rosters

 

By JOE FLINT

 

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

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 Lightstorm Entertainment, has a big vision for

 

Blackbelt TV, which will telecast fights, movies and even some Japanese

 

animation.

 

"We want to do the same thing for the martial arts that MTV did for

 

music," says Mr. Kasanoff, who expects the Los Angeles-based channel to

 

hit the market with at least four million cable and satellite subscribers.

 

It's no secret that fights and violence are big business on cable

 

television. Wrestling shows often pull in top ratings on Viacom Inc.'s

 

MTV and TNN channels. And for all the hype HBO gets for "The Sopranos"

 

and "Sex and the City," the AOL Time Warner Inc. channel's heavy load of

 

boxing is just as important in keeping many subscribers on board. Zuffa

 

LLC, which produces ultimate fighting, a mixed martial arts-style of

 

battle, has had growing success with pay-per-view bouts. And as ever,

 

advertisers are clamoring for ways to reach men 18 to 34 years of age:

 

Violence and action are proven lures.

 

Still, getting Blackbelt TV to audiences may be tougher than surviving a

 

bout with "The Replacement Killers" star Chow Yun Fat. For starters, most

 

successful cable channels are owned by big media concerns with the clout

 

to launch new networks. Convincing cable operators to pick up a new

 

independent channel is made harder due to their difficulty in passing on

 

the cost of new programming to subscribers: Congress could impose new

 

rate regulations if fees go much higher.

 

Mr. Kasanoff, who has assembled a team of executives with experience at

 

the Discovery Channel and Walt Disney Co., declines to say how many

 

cable operators have agreed to carry the channel. Instead, he talks

 

about its low costs, putting the break-even point at $60 million, and

 

appeal to viewers.

 

He has secured international rights to about 15,000 hours of programming

 

so far, from Hong Kong movies to David Carradine's Kung Fu television

 

program. Blackbelt aims to offer an international version of the service

 

at some point. Sony, which sold programming to Blackbelt TV, has warrants

 

to invest in the channel.

 

Most of the movies and fights that Blackbelt has acquired are

 

inexpensive because they are from overseas, often in Mandarin or

 

Cantonese, or were sitting on big studios' shelves. "The prices we're

 

spending per hour of programming vary from $2,500 to a few hundred

 

thousand dollars per hour, Mr. Kasanoff says. By contrast, reruns of

 

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on TNN fetch $1.6 million per episode.

 

Blackbelt doesn't plan to invest much on original programming at first,

 

but will enhance the fights with visual effects and graphics. If that's

 

not enough, Mr. Kasanoff says, "our entire network is hosted by women."

 

The upstart channel may face a match down the road. The Martial Arts

 

Action Network, an Orlando, Fla., channel, is hoping to launch service

 

in late spring. Tony Interdonato, CEO of Martial Arts Action Network and

 

a former producer, says his channel has about 17,000 hours of

 

programming. He concedes he's targeting a small niche but says he "won't

 

go down without a fight."

 

To make itself more appealing to operators wary of adding new services,

 

Blackbelt TV may offer itself as a free service for a year or two. While

 

on the surface that sounds like a no-lose deal, operators don't see it

 

that way.

 

"We have a saying in this industry, 'The first bag of heroin is always

 

free,'" says Fred Dressler, senior vice president of programming at

 

AOL's Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest operator. The

 

problem, he says, is that adding new channels no longer translates into

 

new subscribers. Eventually, he adds, a channel will want a license fee

 

and it's hard to charge subscribers to cover the expense. Mr. Dressler

 

declined to comment on Blackbelt's prospects.

 

Mr. Kasanoff knows he'll have to chop through a few industry bricks to

 

make Blackbelt a success, but he remains confident. "We know people like

 

to watch this stuff," he says. Being small, he adds, may even give his

 

outfit an edge: "Conglomerates by their nature are not entrepreneurial.

 

They'd rather spend $100 on a sure thing than $110 on something risky."

 

Not that he sees Blackbelt fighting solo for life. He wouldn't mind if

 

it followed the same path as the Sci-Fi Channel, which began as a small

 

network dependent on reruns and is now part of Vivendi Universal SA. "A

 

scrappy independent that sold out and became big and huge?" he says.

 

"That would be great."

 

Having a MA channel/network would be awsome in my opinion

[LeaF]

I am all for a martial arts channel, I would get it Thanks for the article karatekid

[karatekid1975]

Your welcome. I thought everyone on the karateforums would get a kick outta this article I hope it (MA channel) does happen.

[Patrick]

Are there any media contacts on that article? Such as where you can contact the people behind this venture or the writer of the article?