In our continuing series of local news vs. action sports we present Newport Beach’s Andrew Doheny as he sarcastically decimates the bubble heads on Fox LA’s Good Morning LA via Skype. Nice work, Mr. Doheny.
[Link: My Fox LA]
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Method Snowboard Magazine CEO Rasmus Ostergaard announced today that they moving to a free distribution model for the “pan-European” magazine.
It’s very simple, over the past 5 years it’s become increasingly clear that newsstand sales are in steady decline. Sadly, our target audience simply doesn’t buy magazines anymore. We could continue working with the old paradigm or radically change our business model to adapt to the market’s new realities. . . . Going free is a win-win situation for everyone –advertisers, retailers, readers, riders and photographers. From now on METHOD will be found where it counts most, namely core snowboard shops and other spots where snowboarders hang out.
We’ve always been big fans of free, plus, it’s just one step closer to 100% digital. Follow the jump for the official release and unleash the kitties.
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Jordy Smith, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, and Andrew “Roosta” Lange, have been busy the past couple weeks as Hollywood has joined the crowd at J-Bay to film Blue Crush 2, according to a story on Weekendpost.ca.za.
Sounds like a bit of a stretch, but the new story goes like this:
“When her father pressures her to knuckle down and go to college, Dana flees her Beverly Hills home for the beaches of South Africa, the site of some of the world’s most awesome surf and her late mother’s home country. . . “With her mom’s journal in hand and a mismatched gang of surf fanatics watching her back, Dana embarks on an odyssey along the breathtaking southern coast of Africa to fulfil her mother’s dream – a long, flawless journey down the barrel of the killer waves of Jeffreys Bay.”
The waves have certainly been putting in Oscar performances. Not sure about the rest of the cast.
[Link: Weekend Post]
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The Magazine Publishers of America today (July 12, 2010) released their Q1 2010 survey of magazine advertising pages (April through June 2010 vs 2009) and this time it looks like the death spiral has stopped. Print ad pages were actually up .8 percent against the same quarter in 2009.
At Bonnier Corporation’s Transworld Media it is a bit of a different story. All of Transworld’s titles (unfortunately, the only action sports publications tracked by the MPA) continued their downward slide–some more than others.
2010 2009 % Change TRANSWORLD SURF 221.03 230.67 -4.2 TRANSWORLD MOTOCROSS 237.00 248.71 -4.7 TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING 46.67 52.84 -11.7 TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING 220.51 334.67 -34.1 RIDE BMX 45.00 127.33 -64.7
According to the MPA report page losses at TransWorld Surf the magazine that saw a 22.6 percent drop in Q1 has slowed to only 4.2 percent. Transworld Skateboarding page losses, however, have accelerated from 20.2 in Q1 to 34.1 percent in Q2.
One industry observer compared the first half of 2008 to the first half of 2010 and put it this way: “Transworld Skateboarding has gone from 802 ad pages to 463 in just two years.”
Transworld isn’t home to Bonnier’s only drops. Wakeboarding Magazine is down 32.6 percent for the quarter and Ski and Skiing, the two titles that were down in the mid double digits in Q1 2010, are missing from the Q2 reports.
[Link: Magazine Publisher of America]
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Few have been more dedicated to successfully mixing art, commerce, mainstream media, and action sports than Fuel TV General Manager CJ Olivares.
In seven years Olivares has taken what was basically a couple action sports event shows on Fox Sports and turned them into a compelling “network” of quality TV programming that has remained surprisingly true to the core of the sports it covers.
Fuel TV is only available in 30 million households (small in cable channel terms) but as CJ points out they’re getting millions of downloads each month in the iTunes store.
“We have 4 million downloads a month from the iTunes store,” C.J. Olivares, Fuel’s general manager, said Wednesday during an interview in his office, which sports a collection of surfboards, skateboards, guitars and a Batman mask. . . According to media consulting firm SNL Kagan, Fuel’s revenues have increased at least 20% nearly every year since its launch, and it should rake in $71.4 million in 2010. SNL Kagan estimates the channel’s cash flow at $20 million, amounting to a nearly 30% margin.
In the interview LA Times’ writer Meg James asks Olivares about being part of the Murdoch Media family, going through a potential sale, and growing a brand in the increasingly shattering media world. Follow the link for the rest of the interview.
[Link: LA Times via @JennGoodman]
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ESPN Action Sports has just announced the hiring of former Snowboarder Magazine “Sex In The Ski Town” columnist Melissa Larsen as their new snowboard editor, according to a post on ESPN/Action.
A recent New York transplant, Larsen brings with her nearly 15 years of editorial experience in snowboard media, as well as a terrain knowledge of Jackson Hole rivaled only by Travis Rice.
We’d talk some shit, but Melissa would undoubtedly kick our asses all the way down to Battery Park. So we’ll just leave it at “congratulations.”
[Link: ESPN/Action]
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Comic-Con fans are all atwitter lately with news that surfer Erica Hosseini was auditioning for the part of Willow in the next X-Men movie. A week ago on Twitter Erica said: “Just got a call to audition for a new mutant character in the next X-MEN movie! This should be interesting…” and now blogs like Straight 2 DVD are interviewing her.
It would be cool to break into the film industry, but I’m not going on auditions and trying for a career change. If the opportunity comes I will without a doubt accept it…. but it has to be the right fit. My dream movie would probably be some super hero action film, with a crazy costume. That just sounds really fun! I love stunts, so i would want lots of action 🙂
We’ve never seen an X-Men film, but if they put Erica in we’ll check the next one out for sure.
[Link: Straight 2 Video via Cinema Blend]
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After all his talk about how competitive skateboarding has never been done correctly, it was a bit of shock to find out on Friday, (July 2, 2010) that Rob Dyrdek had signed a two-year DC/Monster Energy Drink Street League deal with ESPN, the company many blame for doing things wrong in skateboarding for years.
In an interview with ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams (Dyrdek is already working the hype machine) Rob explains exactly why a long-term television deal is important for skateboarding and the Street League.
I want to build an elite property, and TV is a part of that. It needs to be built with partners who believe in the long term; it couldn’t just be someone who wanted to put it on TV. That’s why I chose a multiyear deal as opposed to just going out and getting the thing on TV.
Read the rest of the interview for the details of P-Rod and Chris Cole not appearing in the X Games, but skating on ESPN for the Street League. The ESPN TV deal seems a little messy, but guess those are the kinds of deals to make if the goal is turning skateboarding into Supercross? One one thing we can be certain of–Dyrdek will get paid.
Click the link for the interview or follow the jump for the entire Street League/ESPN press release.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
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We’ve been following Sal’s Twitter feed and know he is in South Africa, but being neither soccer fans nor TV viewers we didn’t really know what he was doing there. Thankfully, the South Africa’s Sowetan has filled us in a little.
Sal Masekela, son of legendary jazz legend Hugh Masekela, is in the country on assignment for his employers – American sports broadcaster ESPN. . . . His gig covers off-beat stories about South Africa – from profiling Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena and exploring grassroots soccer to the impact of HIV-Aids. . . But probably his most prized project is a 10-part documentary series with his equally famous father Hugh. . . Together they explore the people, culture and inspiring landscapes of South Africa. The older Masekela relives memories of growing up under apartheid. This is the first time they have collaborated on a major project.
Guess that explains it. . .
[Link: Sowetan]
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It makes perfect sense for Sean Penn. The guy who stared as Jeff Spicoli and narrated Dogtown and Z-Boys returns to his Hollywood surf roots to play the alpha male of the Paskowitz clan, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, in a biopic that he will produce, according to a story in Variety.
Penn will produce a film based on the eccentric Paskowitz and his family and is eyeing the untitled project as a starring vehicle. Alan and Gabe Polsky, who recently produced the Werner Herzog-helmed “Bad Lieutenant” reboot, are also on board to produce.
Wonder who will play Jonathan?
[Link: Variety]
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