How El Rey is Diversifying Television, On and Off the Screen
Have you ever seen Lucha Underground? At a quick glance, you might mistake it for the WWE, but if you take a closer look you’ll come to realize the show stands for a lot more than just wrestling—it’s a mix of cultures, passionate personalities, multiple storylines complete with a bilingual fan base. Taking after the “lucha libre” wrestling style of Mexico while also combining elements of America pro wrestling, the show very much sums up what the mantra of its network, El Rey, is all about. Born three years ago and founded by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, El Rey reaches over 40 million households
HBO Initiative Makes Hollywood Careers Tangible for D.C. Locals
The start of March was an exciting time in the nation’s capital for many Veep fans and Julia Louise-Dreyfus aficionados. The HBO Emmy-award winning series was in the District for a week-long shoot, and fans took to Twitter and local blogs to share stories of their celebrity sightings. But the show’s stint in D.C. added an additional layer of excitement for the city as several locals were afforded the opportunity to work on set through the network’s Production Assistant Trainee Program as part of a larger program, HBO & Cinemax Community Impact Program. The initiative is one that continues to
Are You Enjoying March Madness the Right Way?
You’ve broken out the brackets and dialed the trash talk to eleven because as of yesterday, you’re in full March Madness swing. In years long past all of this meant rushing home or out to the bar to catch big games. More recently, it’s meant loading up your DVR with piles of games and zooming through them as quickly as possible before going to bed. But this year, streaming TV users will be able to watch in whole new ways. First, there’s the all new NCAA March Madness Live app built by the NCAA, Turner Sports, and CBS, which is available on all of the major streaming platforms. NCAA says, “NCAA
The Rise of the Virtual Reality Social Network
“Imagine being able to sit in front of a campfire and hang out with friends anytime you want. Or being able to watch a movie in a private theatre with your friends anytime you want.” That’s what Mark Zuckerberg posed in front of the Mobile World Congress last month as he discussed the future of Facebook and his plans to delve into virtual reality. Well, as it turns out, you can do all of that now, and you don’t necessarily need to go through costly hoops and high-end equipment to experience it. Mobile VR is making headway worldwide and game developers have been hard at work as they’ve taken
[VIDEO] Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Primary
It’s Super Tuesday. The nation is sitting on the edge of its collective seat waiting to find out who will run in the upcoming Presidential election. The act of delivering televised coverage of this near-national political events is an extraordinary challenge, but the 24 hour news networks that cover it make it look easy. We should know – we were lucky enough to see it all unfold for ourselves when we followed C-SPAN earlier in February as they covered the New Hampshire Primary. With video crew in tow, we joined C-SPAN hoping to capture the story of how a Presidential Primary is covered by a
How People Watch Television Today
Do you remember last fall, when the season premieres of some of our favorite shows beckoned for us to find out what would happen next after the previous season’s cliffhanger? Do you remember anxiously trying to get home in time for the start of it, or finding ways to rearrange your schedule around it? Chances are, you didn’t even sweat it. According to Adobe Digital Index’s “Q4 Digital Video Benchmark” report, overall growth in TV Everywhere video viewing doubled year-over-year. In other words, people are enjoying their freedom to watch television on their own terms, whenever and wherever they
Hollywood Creative Forum: Encouraging Diversity in Television Programming
Black History Month may be nearing its end, but every year it’s a good reminder that we must continue to strive for more representation of underrepresented groups on the screen and behind the scenes of our favorite shows. The inclusion and positive portrayal of women and minorities on television and media not only recognizes our diverse viewership, but also sends the message that people of all classes, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientation need to be seen and heard in order for us to accomplish great things. Some of the brightest and most talented writers, creators, producers and
What It Takes to Bring Us Our Favorite Shows
We’re almost two months into 2016, and many of us are anxious for some of our favorite shows to premiere their long-awaited seasons later this Spring. Having gone to CES 2016 for the first time this past January, I can’t help but look at some of the cinematography with a new-found appreciation as an episode of Game of Thrones or Fear The Walking Dead unfolds on the screen. The entertainment that shows like this provide during that brief one-hour period of our day took an enormous amount of effort and money to bring to fruition. From the creative scripting to the actors’ talent to the equipment
Covering the Coverage: Following C-SPAN on the Campaign Trail
Politics is a little bit like baseball: long stretches of time where seemingly nothing happens punctuated by extreme moments of panic and harried action; small, calculated decisions and acutely prioritized efforts that eventually add up to a win or a loss that could, at any, moment go either way. Where they differ is timing. Baseball can in theory go on forever, where in politics a time must come for voters to vote and the event to be over. NCTA joined C-SPAN earlier this week as they covered the “First-in-the-Nation” New Hampshire Primary. We joined because we wanted to better understand what
Aboard the C-SPAN Bus During the New Hampshire Primary
On a chilly morning this past Sunday in Plymouth, New Hampshire, people filed quickly through a parking lot, some of them wearing their “Make America Great Again” hats in support of Republican candidate Donald Trump. They were there to see Trump as he continued his presidential campaign two days before the state’s primary. Supporters, opposers and neutral citizens alike couldn’t walk towards the college athletic center where the presidential hopeful would kick off his rally without seeing the large C-SPAN Campaign 2016 bus, decked out in red white and blue. It’s hard not to be curious or