The Curling Network? Don't count on it - Game Shows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a stretch that has seen the creation of TV networks dedicated to the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL, it is easy to wonder what's next.
A gymnastics channel? A cycling channel? How about a TV network devoted to curling, the sport of brooms and rocks most often seen during the Winter Olympics?
"It's hard to see that there's room for too many more (sports) networks," said Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom Inc. "Pretty much everything that's out there today is covered."
Indeed, Dauman and other top executives speaking this week at the Reuters Global Media Summit warned that after a period of huge expansion the field of sports TV channels is in serious danger of becoming overcrowded.
The explosive growth in dedicated sports networks, as well as the ubiquity of sports on Walt Disney's ESPN and regional channels owned by News Corp's Fox and others, could extend to the U.S. Olympic Committee and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Both are eyeing creating their own networks down the road -- and for good reason. Leagues and sports properties see the potential that comes with strengthening a rabid fan base across the country while raking in the advertising dollars.
However, with rising sports programing costs sparking a chorus of complaints, count News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey among those skeptical that more sports networks can be sustained.
"People are carrying that a dimension too far," he said at the Reuters summit. "Everybody falls in love with it.
"You've had decades where it's been a quantity game and everybody's adding," he added. "You're actually now heading to a quality game and as you have more choice you really want to figure out how do you have quality channels as opposed to a strewn level of niche channels."
Viacom's Dauman said his MTV and Spike networks will schedule more sports-related shows, but launching a dedicated network is not in the cards.
"When people complain about the increase in programing costs, we have to recognize that a very large part of that is related to sports," Dauman added.
Disney's TV chief, Anne Sweeney, would prefer the leagues and teams ask themselves whether they can do a better job building their brands than her company's ESPN sports network.
"A key consideration is can I do for my fans what ESPN has traditionally done for their fans," she said.
Even Tony Petitti, chief of MLB Network, which had the most successful launch in cable TV history last year at 50 million U.S. homes, thinks any sport should first work to ensure broad distribution.
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The Curling Network? Don't count on it - Game Shows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a stretch that has seen the creation of TV networks dedicated to the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL, it is easy to wonder what's next.
A gymnastics channel? A cycling channel? How about a TV network devoted to curling, the sport of brooms and rocks most often seen during the Winter Olympics?
"It's hard to see that there's room for too many more (sports) networks," said Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom Inc. "Pretty much everything that's out there today is covered."
Indeed, Dauman and other top executives speaking this week at the Reuters Global Media Summit warned that after a period of huge expansion the field of sports TV channels is in serious danger of becoming overcrowded.
The explosive growth in dedicated sports networks, as well as the ubiquity of sports on Walt Disney's ESPN and regional channels owned by News Corp's Fox and others, could extend to the U.S. Olympic Committee and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Both are eyeing creating their own networks down the road -- and for good reason. Leagues and sports properties see the potential that comes with strengthening a rabid fan base across the country while raking in the advertising dollars.
However, with rising sports programing costs sparking a chorus of complaints, count News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey among those skeptical that more sports networks can be sustained.
"People are carrying that a dimension too far," he said at the Reuters summit. "Everybody falls in love with it.
"You've had decades where it's been a quantity game and everybody's adding," he added. "You're actually now heading to a quality game and as you have more choice you really want to figure out how do you have quality channels as opposed to a strewn level of niche channels."
Viacom's Dauman said his MTV and Spike networks will schedule more sports-related shows, but launching a dedicated network is not in the cards.
"When people complain about the increase in programing costs, we have to recognize that a very large part of that is related to sports," Dauman added.
Disney's TV chief, Anne Sweeney, would prefer the leagues and teams ask themselves whether they can do a better job building their brands than her company's ESPN sports network.
"A key consideration is can I do for my fans what ESPN has traditionally done for their fans," she said.
Even Tony Petitti, chief of MLB Network, which had the most successful launch in cable TV history last year at 50 million U.S. homes, thinks any sport should first work to ensure broad distribution.
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Analysis: Rural youth offer next frontier for China Web darlings - Game Shows

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese Internet giants such as Tencent and Baidu are looking to cyber-savvy but cash-poor rural youth in China's smaller cities as the next frontier to keep up their explosive growth.
Compared with Japan and South Korea, two of Asia's most wired countries with more than 70 percent Internet penetration, China has a modest national penetration rate of 30 percent, despite its status as the world's biggest Internet market with 420 million users.
Internet use is particularly low, around 20-40 percent, in the country's populous but relatively low-income central and western provinces such as Henan, Sichuan and Hubei, where analysts see the biggest chances for huge growth.
Companies such as Tencent, Baidu and Perfect World, whose products use less bandwidth and cater to simpler tastes of users in smaller markets, could be best placed to cash in on the spread of Internet access to those areas, analysts said.
"If you look at absolute dollars (current Internet revenue) is coming from coastal cities," said Jin Yoon, a Hong Kong based analyst with Nomura. "But if you look at central and western China ... that's where the growth is coming from."
Official data show about 30 percent of China's current Internet users, or about 126 million, live in rural areas, or about half the penetration rates for big cities including Shanghai.
In the third quarter, China's Internet economy was worth 41.4 billion yuan ($6.2 billion), a third of which was e-commerce, data from iResearch shows.
Lower incomes aside, another major factor limiting Internet growth in the countryside is less developed telecommunications, with broadband relatively scarce.
That could start to change, however, as China promotes a "triple play" project starting in 2013, aimed at delivering TV, telephone and Internet networks over sophisticated broadband networks to reach more homes faster.
"Once the infrastructure is in place, we will see competition in broadband heat up," said Mirae Asset analyst Eric Wen.
GETTING CONNECTED
Niki Xie, 22, a migrant to Shanghai from interior Hubei province, is typical of the youth that China's Internet titans would like to tap.
Having recently lost her sales job, she sat at an Internet bar on a recent afternoon, idling away her time by playing Tian Long Ba Bu, a hit game from Changyou, for up to eight hours a day.
"I have nothing to do, so I spend my time online and playing my boyfriend's character," said Xie, navigating her purple clad avatar onto a fluffy white rabbit.
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Kabam acquires social game developer WonderHill - Game Shows

Kabamis hoping to build the next dynamite company in social games. Today, Kabam is announcing it has acquired social game developer WonderHill as part of a quest to build a powerhouse in next-generation social gaming.
The price wasn’t disclosed. Redwood City, Calif.-based Kabam is trying to build a high-end social game firm that could join the ranks of top companies such as Zynga, Disney-Playdom, EA-Playfish and CrowdStar. It has a ways to go in that respect, but the acquisition shows that Kabam has become a player in the space. The deal also shows that smaller developers are under pressure to get big fast as rivals such as Zynga grow bigger and bigger.
WonderHill was founded in 2008by James Currier and Stan Chudnovsky. The company raised $7.75 million from Charles River Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Ooga Labs. The company created hit titles on MySpace such as Green Spot and it more recently moved to Facebook with titles such as Dragons of Atlantis.
WonderHill has 2 million monthly active users for its free-to-play games, where players can play for free and pay real money for virtual goods.
With the addition of 25 employees from San Francisco-based WonderHill, Kabam will now have about 200 employees, said Kaban chief executive Kevin Chou. Kabam was founded in 2007 as Watercooler. The company raised$9.5 million in two rounds of funding. Investors include Betfair and Canaan Partners.
At the beginning of the year, Kabam had just 20 employees, but it has grown quickly on the strength of games such as Kingdoms of Camelot,which has 8.2 million monthly active usersacross dozens of games on Facebook. The company got its start with online sports fan sites on Facebook.
WonderHill drew some attention earlier this yearwhen CrowdStar sued it for allegedly copying the “fish mating dance” and other features of CrowdStar’s Happy Aquarium game in WonderHill’s own Aquarium Life game.
But WonderHill caught Chou’s eye because it was focused on high-quality Flash strategy games. Under the deal, WonderHill will become Kabam’s San Francisco office.
WonderHill founders Currier and Chudnovsky will stay on as advisors, and WonderHill’s the development team of approximately 25 will now work as Kabam employees. The new Kabam San Francisco will continue to build titles like Dragons of Atlantis while also creating new, yet to be announced projects that will aid in further building out Kabam’s portfolio of real social games. Kabam recently added executives with experience at Blizzard, PlayFirst and PayPal.
Companies:Kabam,Wonderhill
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Injured Gates gives Chargers late jolt in losing cause - Game Shows

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Injured tight end Antonio Gates missed the entire week of practice but gave the San Diego Chargers a late boost on Sunday before falling 23-20 to the New England Patriots.
Struggling with a toe injury, three-time All-Pro Gates was only listed as active shortly before the opening kickoff to help the Chargers snap two-game losing streak.
Trailing 23-6, Gates helped his team mount a spirited rally when he finally broke clear of the New England defense with a four-yard touchdown with 7:25 left.
"It's hard not to be 100 percent and still play well against a team like the Patriots," Gates told reporters after San Diego slipped to 2-5 for the season.
"For a minute, I got lost on coverage and I was able to make some plays. You come out and you fight and scratch as a player and do what you can to win. But today wasn't enough."
Six-time Pro Bowler Gates, heavily defended by New England, did not connect with a single throw from Rivers in the first half but San Diego coach Norv Turner was unperturbed.
"Antonio is one of the great team players ever," Turner said. "I don't think he had any concern about if he had the ball thrown to him or not. (The Patriots) had two or three guys on him.
New England head coach Bill Belichick applauded the gutsy display by Gates, especially in the second half.
"Gates is a tough player, he hasn't missed any games. He always shows up to play and always plays well. He is a tough guy to handle," said Belichick.
Although the Chargers held the Patriots to 179 yards of offense while gaining 363 yards themselves, they committed four turnovers in the first half.
"This is something we've talked about since the season started, since training camp, and that's the turnover ratio," Gates said after moving into sixth place in the all-time standings for tight ends with 6,763 career yards.
"You continue to turn the ball over and you continue do the same things, it decreases your chance of winning football games. Getting it to translate to the game on Sunday is probably our biggest challenge at this point."
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Cablevision and Fox reach programming deal - Game Shows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp and News Corp have a reached a programing deal which sees the return of the Fox local stations to more than three million New York area homes after a 15-day blackout.
The Fox stations and some of its sister cable networks, NatGeo Wild and Fox Desportes, disappeared off the systems of Cablevision after the cable operator was unable to reach a deal with Fox over a price rise in programing fees.
With either side refusing to back down, Cablevision customers ended up missing some of their favorite shows and sports including the ongoing World Series baseball championship.
The companies said signals were returned to Cablevision ahead of the third game of the series on Saturday.
Terms of the new deal were not disclosed. In a series of PR and advertising campaigns, Cablevision had claimed News Corp had been demanding to more than double its fee to $150 million from $70 million.
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UPDATE 2-NetEase bullish on H2 games; misses Q2 profit - Game Shows

* Q2 net profit $71.6 mln versus $76.6 mln estimate
* Confirms imminent release of key game expansion pack
* Gives positive outlook for online games in H2
* Shares rise in after-hours
(Adds quotes, details, adds dateline)
By Melanie Lee and Helen Kearney
SHANGHAI/NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) - China's No.3 online
game operator NetEase.com (NTES.O) flagged the release of
sequels to its hit games, helping boost its shares though the
company's quarterly profit missed analysts' forecasts.
NetEase said it expects to release at least four expansion
packs for its self-developed hit titles in the second half of
the year as well as the expansion pack to Activision Blizzard's
(ATVI.O) blockbuster game "World of Warcraft".
China is the world's largest Internet market with more than
420 million web surfers. However, its red-hot online games
segment has faced strong headwinds this year on a lack of new
titles and an increasingly competitive environment.
Earlier this month, China's Ministry of Culture said it had
approved NetEase's release of an expansion pack to the "World
of Warcraft" game in China, which analysts hope will energize
the company's earnings in the fourth quarter.
"I think the outlook is good, the World of Warcraft will
have a good quarter and then seems like some of their existing
games will continue to grow,"said Wallace Cheung, an analyst
with Credit Suisse.
"It looks like profitability will improve in the next two
quarters at least."
NetEase said it is looking to release the game as soon as
possible after completing some technical procedures.
For the second quarter, NetEase net profit rose 4.5 percent
to $71.6 million, or 55 cents per ADS, from $68.5 million, or
53 cents per ADS a year ago.
This missed analysts' estimates of $76.6 million or 58.9
cents per ADS on a fully reported basis, according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.
"In the third quarter and fourth quarter this year we will
be expecting a much more satisfactory or a more positive
results delivery in terms of the gaming revenues," Onward Choi,
NetEase's acting chief financial officer told investors in a
call.
NetEase shares rose 1.37 percent to $37.00 in after-hours
U.S. trade after closing 1.8 percent lower in regular trading.
The company said quarterly revenue came in at $198.6
million, beating the consensus forecast of $184.96 million,
according to 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Netease competes with Changyou.com (CYOU.O), Shanda Games
(GAME.O), Perfect World (PWRD.O) and Tencent Holdings (0700.HK)
in China's increasingly crowded and competitive gaming
landscape.
NetEase operates some of China's most popular online games,
including self-developed martial arts game Fantasy Westward
Journey.
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Ailing Zsa Zsa Gabor to spend final days at home - Game Shows

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has decided to spend her final days at her Bel Air home after declining to undergo any more surgery, her publicist said on Monday.
Gabor, 93, was given the last rites by a priest in hospital at the weekend after undergoing a series of setbacks following hip replacement surgery a month ago.
Doctors wanted to perform surgery on her liver that would give her a 50-50 chance survival rate, but Gabor and her husband, Frederick Prinz von Anhalt, decided "she wanted to spend her final days at home," publicist John Blanchette said.
"Frederick said he did not want to torture her anymore," Blanchette added. He said the star, who has been a Hollywood fixture for 60 years, "is in and out of consciousness".
She left a Los Angeles hospital on Monday and returned home.
Gabor, whose string of movies, television shows and wealthy husbands dates to the 1950s, was released from hospital last week but was taken back on Friday to treat two blood clots.
She broke her hip on July 17 when she fell out of bed while watching the television game show "Jeopardy." The actress was partially paralyzed in a 2002 car accident.
"She had a great run," Blanchette said. "She's 93. She knew five presidents...she knew kings and queens, celebrities."
The Hungarian-born Gabor has appeared in more than 30 movies, and her penchant for calling everyone "dah-ling" in her Hungarian accent made her a well-known Hollywood personality.
She, along with her two glamorous sisters Eva and Magda made several appearances on radio and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. Gabor appeared in movies "Moulin Rouge," followed by "Lili" and later "Touch of Evil."
Gabor was married nine times to a string of husbands that included a Turkish diplomat and the hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. She has been married to von Anhalt for 24 years.
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Azarenka thrashes Sharapova to win in Stanford - Game Shows

STANFORD California (Reuters) - A charged-up Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her first tournament of the year on Sunday by blowing away Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1 in the final of the Stanford Classic.
In a breath-taking display of power tennis, Azarenka broke her three-time grand slam champion opponent six times, controlling the match with laser-sharp groundstrokes.
"This shows that I really believe in myself," Azarenka told reporters. "It gives me a lot of confidence, especially going into the US open."
The win capped an impressive week for wild card Azarenka, who earlier upended French champion Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals and Australian world number five Samantha Stosur in the last four.
The two tall blondes went toe-to-toe early in the match, but the wheels came off for Sharapova when the Belarusian broke to lead 5-4 after ripping a backhand return winner. She then took the set after forcing a backhand error.
"I played a really sloppy game at 4-3, had some unforced errors off my return and she really stepped it up and took advantage of it," said Sharapova, who amassed 27 unforced errors to Azarenka's 13.
"I was always on defense after that. When I tried to get the ball rolling, I was a little too late."
'HAD TO FIGHT'

� Continued...
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Azarenka thrashes Sharapova to win in Stanford - Game Shows

STANFORD California (Reuters) - A charged-up Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her first tournament of the year on Sunday by blowing away Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1 in the final of the Stanford Classic.
In a breath-taking display of power tennis, Azarenka broke her three-time grand slam champion opponent six times, controlling the match with laser-sharp groundstrokes.
"This shows that I really believe in myself," Azarenka told reporters. "It gives me a lot of confidence, especially going into the US open."
The win capped an impressive week for wild card Azarenka, who earlier upended French champion Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals and Australian world number five Samantha Stosur in the last four.
The two tall blondes went toe-to-toe early in the match, but the wheels came off for Sharapova when the Belarusian broke to lead 5-4 after ripping a backhand return winner. She then took the set after forcing a backhand error.
"I played a really sloppy game at 4-3, had some unforced errors off my return and she really stepped it up and took advantage of it," said Sharapova, who amassed 27 unforced errors to Azarenka's 13.
"I was always on defense after that. When I tried to get the ball rolling, I was a little too late."
'HAD TO FIGHT'

� Continued...
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Azarenka thrashes Sharapova to win in Stanford - Game Shows

STANFORD California (Reuters) - A charged-up Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her first tournament of the year on Sunday by blowing away Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1 in the final of the Stanford Classic.
In a breath-taking display of power tennis, Azarenka broke her three-time grand slam champion opponent six times, controlling the match with laser-sharp groundstrokes.
"This shows that I really believe in myself," Azarenka told reporters. "It gives me a lot of confidence, especially going into the US open."
The win capped an impressive week for wild card Azarenka, who earlier upended French champion Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals and Australian world number five Samantha Stosur in the last four.
The two tall blondes went toe-to-toe early in the match, but the wheels came off for Sharapova when the Belarusian broke to lead 5-4 after ripping a backhand return winner. She then took the set after forcing a backhand error.
"I played a really sloppy game at 4-3, had some unforced errors off my return and she really stepped it up and took advantage of it," said Sharapova, who amassed 27 unforced errors to Azarenka's 13.
"I was always on defense after that. When I tried to get the ball rolling, I was a little too late."
'HAD TO FIGHT'

� Continued...
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Azarenka thrashes Sharapova to win in Stanford - Game Shows

STANFORD California (Reuters) - A charged-up Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her first tournament of the year on Sunday by blowing away Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1 in the final of the Stanford Classic.
In a breath-taking display of power tennis, Azarenka broke her three-time grand slam champion opponent six times, controlling the match with laser-sharp groundstrokes.
"This shows that I really believe in myself," Azarenka told reporters. "It gives me a lot of confidence, especially going into the US open."
The win capped an impressive week for wild card Azarenka, who earlier upended French champion Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals and Australian world number five Samantha Stosur in the last four.
The two tall blondes went toe-to-toe early in the match, but the wheels came off for Sharapova when the Belarusian broke to lead 5-4 after ripping a backhand return winner. She then took the set after forcing a backhand error.
"I played a really sloppy game at 4-3, had some unforced errors off my return and she really stepped it up and took advantage of it," said Sharapova, who amassed 27 unforced errors to Azarenka's 13.
"I was always on defense after that. When I tried to get the ball rolling, I was a little too late."
'HAD TO FIGHT'

� Continued...
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