MUMBAI: Even as the curtain comes down on the first season of US broadcaster NBC's boxing based reality show The Contender tomorrow 24 May one of the show's executive producers does not hold out much hope about the show returning for a second season.
Actor Sylvester Stallone who shot to fame with the boxing movie Rocky way back in 1976 has put the blame on NBC for the fact that the show has not quite excited audiences. He feels that the show should have had a better time slot.
Reports indicate that the episode which aired on 8 May saw 6.1 million viewers tuning in. By comparison, 14.8 million watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Each episode of The Contender cost $ two million. In India the show airs on AXN.
On a more positive note when tickets for the final Contender boxing match went on sale last month at a price of $100 to $300, they sold out immediately.
Meanwhile Yahoo! is trying to draw at-work boxing enthusiasts into the ring for an afternoon of live, Web-only bouts sponsored by Toyota and Intel.
In an extension of its deal with The Contender Yahoo! will host two exclusive bouts between contestants chosen by fans of the show. The fights will be streamed live from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas tomorrow 24 May before the season finale.
Yahoo!'s regular Contender sponsors, Toyota and Intel, are the featured brands during the 24 May bouts. The companies will get play in a combination of pre-roll video and banner placements on the official site.
Yahoo's senior VP of entertainment and content acquisition Jim Moloshok said, "The Internet is the television for the workplace. The nice thing about an event like this one is that we're able to reach people during what is primetime for broadband use. From an advertiser's perspective, it's a great time to reach them, because they're about to leave work and go to happy hour or to the grocery store."
Yahoo! is calling the afternoon matches Fan Favourite bouts. During the two weeks leading up to the finale, viewers could go to the show's official site on Yahoo! and vote for eliminated contestants who they would most like to see fight again.
