De La Hoya adds punch to Fox fare
Fox puts up dukes
April 19, 2004
Fox Broadcasting Co. is climbing into the boxing reality show ring, ordering a reality series from Endemol Entertainment focusing on the sweet science with Oscar De La Hoya attached to host, industry sources said.
That news isn't sitting well with Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who announced with much fanfare in February plans for a boxing-themed reality series for NBC, "The Contender," with Sylvester Stallone, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman for NBC (HR 2/23).
Burnett and Katzenberg, executive producers of "Contender" for DreamWorks and Mark Burnett Prods., voiced concern about Fox's project because both the network and De La Hoya's camp were separately pitched a few months ago by Burnett and Katzenberg on their ambitious plans for "Contender," which involves an elimination-style competition among 16 male amateurs, blended with heavy emphasis on the contestants' lives and backgrounds outside the ring.
Fox bid for "Contender" when it was shopped to the Big Four networks in February, but the show eventually went to NBC, which agreed to a pricey $2 million per episode license fee and an unusual provision to sell som f the ad time in each episode to DreamWorks and Burnett to resell at a profit or use in conjunction with integrated advertising pacts with "Contender" sponsors.
Katzenberg, who said he has been honing his ideas for "Contender" for more than two years, said he would reserve final judgment until hearing the specifics about Fox's series. Fox is said to have the De La Hoya show on the fast track, presumably to beat the "Contender" to the airwaves later this year. Fox kept details of the project and its premise and episode order tight last week; reps for the network would not comment Friday. But David Goldberg, president of Endemol, said Sunday that he was confident that his company has come up with a "unique take on the boxing arena." Goldberg added that De La Hoya and his representatives have been in discussions with Endemol and other production companies to develop a boxing reality show for more than a year.
"I'm very concerned about (the Fox series) and I hope that whatever it is that they're doing is original and their own," Katzenberg said. Burnett echoed his partner's sentiment.
"We obviously can't have a monopoly on boxing, but clearly ours was the first use of boxing as a backdrop to an unscripted drama of this type," Burnett said, adding that the pitches to all prospective buyers of "Contender" were very specific in terms of the competitive elements and other production details.
De La Hoya, the 1992 Olympic gold medal winner who won his first pro welterweight title in 1997, turned down the offer to participate in "Contender," with his reps telling Katzenberg and Burnett that the boxer and burgeoning pop singer wasn't interested in working in reality television. De La Hoya recently signed for representation with WMA; his reps could not be reached for comment during the weekend.
The tension over the boxing shows puts Burnett in a particularly tight spot with Fox because the producer has another unscripted project expected to bow within the next few months at the network, "The Casino," a behind-the-scenes-in-Vegas vehicle. And Burnett was already known to be irked at Fox and its alternative/specials executive vp Mike Darnell for the decision to mount a variation of Burnett's latest hit, NBC's Donald Trump starrer "The Apprentice."
Fox earlier this month announced plans for a six-episode series featuring Virgin chief Richard Branson leading a group of contestants on a global trek, where they're challenged at various stops to overcome the same obstacles Branson faced early on in his career.
Darnell and Fox, on the other hand, previously flirted with boxing in primetime, albeit in a high-camp way, more than two years ago with its two highly rated "Celebrity Boxing" specials, featuring such contenders as tabloid darlings Tonya Harding and Paula Jones.
That news isn't sitting well with Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who announced with much fanfare in February plans for a boxing-themed reality series for NBC, "The Contender," with Sylvester Stallone, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman for NBC (HR 2/23).
Burnett and Katzenberg, executive producers of "Contender" for DreamWorks and Mark Burnett Prods., voiced concern about Fox's project because both the network and De La Hoya's camp were separately pitched a few months ago by Burnett and Katzenberg on their ambitious plans for "Contender," which involves an elimination-style competition among 16 male amateurs, blended with heavy emphasis on the contestants' lives and backgrounds outside the ring.
Fox bid for "Contender" when it was shopped to the Big Four networks in February, but the show eventually went to NBC, which agreed to a pricey $2 million per episode license fee and an unusual provision to sell som f the ad time in each episode to DreamWorks and Burnett to resell at a profit or use in conjunction with integrated advertising pacts with "Contender" sponsors.
Katzenberg, who said he has been honing his ideas for "Contender" for more than two years, said he would reserve final judgment until hearing the specifics about Fox's series. Fox is said to have the De La Hoya show on the fast track, presumably to beat the "Contender" to the airwaves later this year. Fox kept details of the project and its premise and episode order tight last week; reps for the network would not comment Friday. But David Goldberg, president of Endemol, said Sunday that he was confident that his company has come up with a "unique take on the boxing arena." Goldberg added that De La Hoya and his representatives have been in discussions with Endemol and other production companies to develop a boxing reality show for more than a year.
"I'm very concerned about (the Fox series) and I hope that whatever it is that they're doing is original and their own," Katzenberg said. Burnett echoed his partner's sentiment.
"We obviously can't have a monopoly on boxing, but clearly ours was the first use of boxing as a backdrop to an unscripted drama of this type," Burnett said, adding that the pitches to all prospective buyers of "Contender" were very specific in terms of the competitive elements and other production details.
De La Hoya, the 1992 Olympic gold medal winner who won his first pro welterweight title in 1997, turned down the offer to participate in "Contender," with his reps telling Katzenberg and Burnett that the boxer and burgeoning pop singer wasn't interested in working in reality television. De La Hoya recently signed for representation with WMA; his reps could not be reached for comment during the weekend.
The tension over the boxing shows puts Burnett in a particularly tight spot with Fox because the producer has another unscripted project expected to bow within the next few months at the network, "The Casino," a behind-the-scenes-in-Vegas vehicle. And Burnett was already known to be irked at Fox and its alternative/specials executive vp Mike Darnell for the decision to mount a variation of Burnett's latest hit, NBC's Donald Trump starrer "The Apprentice."
Fox earlier this month announced plans for a six-episode series featuring Virgin chief Richard Branson leading a group of contestants on a global trek, where they're challenged at various stops to overcome the same obstacles Branson faced early on in his career.
Darnell and Fox, on the other hand, previously flirted with boxing in primetime, albeit in a high-camp way, more than two years ago with its two highly rated "Celebrity Boxing" specials, featuring such contenders as tabloid darlings Tonya Harding and Paula Jones.
Share on LinkedIn
