Good morning! It's
Friday, January 21, 2005,
and this is your first early morning
Multi-Cultural
briefing.
HISPANIC MARKET:
A new Mexican-Spanish co-production, Bendito
Infierno, will make a limited appearance in LA starting on February
4. The Penelope Cruz/Victoria Abril-penned film is being released
as part of the Viva Tu Cine! Film Series with Penelope Cruz, Victoria
Abril, Gael Garcia Bernal and Demian Bichir in the star roles. The
Spanish-language film centers on an evil and a good angel fighting over
the soul of a boxer back here on Earth at the request of Heaven's
managers and Hell's chief exec. Bendito Infierno is co-produced by
Spain's Flamenco Films and Tornasol Films and Mexico's Altavista Films
and distributed by Casa Nova Films and First Look Entertainment.
ESPN Deportes and Guilty Productions, Inc. inked a
multi-year deal giving ESPN Deportes the exclusive US and Puerto Rico
television broadcast rights to Boxeo de Campeones. The
network will air 48 2-hour shows annually from locations in Las Vegas and
Arizona, California, Connecticut and Tijuana, Mexico. Boxeo de
Campeones is a weekly boxing series showcasing rising Hispanic boxers.
Univision will air a 3-hour live special, Selena...A 10th
Anniversary Tribute, in honor of the late Selena
Quintanilla on April 7 from 8-11 pm from Houston. The gathering
of Latino stars from around the world will take place 10 years after the
singer's final concert in Houston before she was murdered in 1995.
Some of the singers announced include Aleks Syntek, Alicia Villareal, Ana
Gabriel, Banda el Recodo, Carlos Vives, Gloria Estefan, Intocable, Kumbia
Kings, Lucero, Pepe Aguilar and Thalia. The network and the
Quintanilla family plans a press conference to provide more details on
February 3 at 2:30 pm.
The latest data from The HispanicWebMonitor (Media Economics
Group) reports an upward spiral in 2004's online advertisement
trends. According to the report, the December estimates showed
there were 939 original Hispanic online brands/campaigns and 439 new
Hispanic online advertisers. The amount of unique Hispanic
advertisers (parent company) grew nearly 25% from 2003 to 848 in
2004. UniqueHispanic online brand/campaign numbers jumped up 34.7%
from 2003 to 2004 with a total of 1,249 for last year. The top
online sites and their total number of campaigns/brands this past year
were Univision.com (313 with an
18.70% share),
MSN Latino (230
-13.70%), Terra -
US Hispanic (158 -
9.40%),
Batanga.com (158 -
9.40%),
NetMio.com (132 -
7.90%), Starmedia
- US Hispanic (122 -
7.30%), El Nuevo
Herald (103 -
6.10%), AOL
Latino (70 -
4.20%), Yahoo! en
Espanol (68 -
4.10%( and
LaOpinion.com (49 -
2.90%).
Fox Sports en Espanol will begin broadcasting the 2005 Copa
Libertadores tournament live on February 1 at 6 pm with the Quilmes
(Argentina) and Colo Colo (Chile) match from Buenos Aires. The
network holds the broadcast rights of the six-month tournament's 138
games. In addition to the live games, Fox Sports en Espanol is
teaming up with Yahoo! en espanol to bring online video coverage on
fse.yahoo.com as well as an 1-long show titled El Show de la Copa
Libertadores synopsizing the tournament. More info on schedules at
foxsportsla.yahoo.com and fse.yahoo.com.
LATAM MARKET:
Comcast is increasing its cable lineup by adding
Azteca America to the Dallas area. KODF-TV is Dallas
affiliate for the 24-hour Spanish-language network.
AFRICAN AMERICAN MARKET:
Lamont Bentley, one of UPN's Moesha stars,
passed away on Tuesday night after a car accident in LA. He
was returning from a screening for the indie short Shards. The
31-year old actor played Moesha Mitchell's best friend and neighbor
(Hakeem Campbell) on the series in addition to roles in such productions
as South Central, The Sentinel, Courthouse, Family Matters, The Client,
What About Your Friends, Equal Justice and Reasonable Doubts.
The Biography Channel will present special programming during
February in honor of Black History Month.
The Journey of Lesra Martin highlights the lawyer/speaker's
life and work (including his most famous case defending US boxer Rubin
"Hurricane" Carter) through the eyes of his friends, family and
Lesra himself. The special will make its US debut on February 21 at
9pm.
The special, Arthur Ashe, focuses in on the first top-ranked
African American tennis player, his sports feats and humanitarian efforts
(raising awareness of South African apartheid) on February 22 at 9pm.
Additional encore biographies include Colin Powell (February 2 at 9
pm), Will Smith (February 10 at 8 pm), Nat King Cole (February 14 at 9
pm), Rosa Parks (February 15 at 9 pm), Jimi Hendrix (February 16 at 8
pm), Nelson Mandela (February 17 at 9 pm), Bernie Mac (February 22 at 8
pm), Malcolm X (February 23 at 9 pm) and Chris Rock (February 24 at 8
pm).
Superstation WGN will air 12 episodes of The Cosby Show, 2 film
debuts and more as part of the station's Black History Month celebration.
The annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards will air on January 29
from 11:30 pm - 1:30 am. The ceremony took place January 15 in Houston.
One of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. specials will air on
Superstation WGN with the first, King, airing on February 7, 8 and
9 from 8 pm - 10 pm.
The movie, TV in Black, The First Fifty Years, will premiere
on February 10 at 8 pm. It takes a look at the growth of American
pop culture.
Oscar's Black Odyssey, From Hattie to Halle will cover lesser
known African-American contributions in the movie industry on February 10
at 9 pm.
The second Martin Luther King, Jr. program, a documentary titled
Martin Luther King, Jr. A Historical Perspective, will be
broadcast on February 12 at 9 pm.
A 6-hour run of “Cosby Comedy Sunday” will air on February 20
from noon to 6 pm.
INDIAN/ASIAN MARKET:
Lucasfilm is attempting a worldwide release of
its soon-to-be released Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith
with China as one of the premiere spots according to the China Film
Group (CFG). The move is geared to stave off early pirated versions
(can be on the street days after a US debut) by simultaneously releasing
the movie in the US and other countries. Lucasfilm hopes to work
with CFG to bring the Star Wars film to 50 Chinese theaters on the May 19
debut date. The potential agreement needs to be approved by China's
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television before the debut can
proceed. The film is distributed worldwide by Twentieth Century
Fox.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS:
NBC Universal and ITV re-signed on the
dotted line for another multiyear free television licensing deal in the
UK. The agreement covers NBC Universal's 2004 to 2006 feature
movies and television series (also includes movies from the UK's Working
Title Films). Some of the films included are Bridget Jones: The
Edge of Reason, Gladiator, King Kong, Notting Hill, The Mummy and
Thunderbirds.
Etc. ALL MARKETS:
Discovery Channel named Peter Lovering as
VP/Production and Development in the company's London
division. He will be responsible for future production and UK-based
projects, working with and developing UK indie producers and new
production talent and overseeing the Discovery/BBC joint venture.
Peter was recently with BBC's Docs and Contemporary Factual unit as head
of development.
In addition to doubling its programming budget to $50 million this year,
BBC America named Kathryn Mitchell as General
Manager. She was previously SVP of programming for Comedy
Central.
Friday Fun
Fact:
When glass breaks, the cracks move
faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must
shoot at a millionth of a second.
Answer to Yesterday's Trivia Question:In response to criticism of his personal and professional style, he
is attributed as being the first to say, "I cried all the way to the
bank." Who is this? LIBERACE. Kudos
to: Joe Swaney-Cartoon Network/Atlanta; Rob Taffner-SQAD/Tarrytown; Barry
Solomon-Menudo Ent/NY; Gene Lavelle-Modern Ent/LA.
Today's Trivia Question:
This 48-room TV house is, according to the script, located at 173 Essex
Drive, though in reality it is the Filoli Estate in south of San
Francisco. The house was built in 1916 and is now a museum. Shots
of the exterior of the house were also used in the series Knight Rider as
the home base of the Foundation. Who, according to the script,
lives in this house on Essex Drive?
(click
here with your answer
and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone with your
answer. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers
from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you've been mentioned in
any of the Cynopsis editions, you can't be mentioned again that calendar
week.)
Saludos - Ariana
Ariana Rawls for Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis: M-CE 01/21/05 3:28am Press Releases forMCEcan be
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