Even as The Cable Show is being reimagined next May as INTX, the massive International CES coming Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas is trying to reinforce an image that it’s an event all about innovation.
Part of that includes striking imagery such as the ad (pictured above) put together by the event’s agency, Concept 73. “We wanted the ads to have that kind of Vegas nature and bigness to them,” agency creative director Steve Elliott told The Wire. Early concept elements included a tiger, which stuck, and a desire to be futuristic paired it with the spaceman.
Really big versions of the four ads (including this one) executed with Tim Tadder photos will be on display at CES. To see more, go to CESWeb.org, timtadder.com and concept73.com.
SHVA, STELA: Say Them Aloud, They’re Her Name
Stella!!!
The Satellite Home Viewer Act — SHVA but pronounced “shiva” because, well, you can’t really say it without adding the “i” sound — was the original name of the legislation renewing the satellite compulsory license. Until Congress passes the newest incarnation, the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA), the current legislation is referred to as STELA (the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act).
Got that?
Anyway, The Wire kept getting emails from fair-use fans Public Knowledge saying, “Shiva Stella” in the “from” line. We assumed the emails had something to do with the legislation, sort of an alpha and omega address for satellite billrelated releases.
Nope. Turns out Shiva Stella is the new communications manager for Public Knowledge, having replaced Bartees Cox (we liked that name, too), who headed over to the FCC to join the growing ranks of public-interest folks there.
Shiva told The Wire that her first day was Sept. 15, just in time for the short strokes on the new satellite bill.
“Perhaps it’s destiny,” she said.
Shiva comes to Public Knowledge from the video-game industry and said she is fairly used to people commenting on her name — the “Shiva” part — because they see it a lot in Final Fantasy games, with Shiva being the Hindu god, sometimes referred to as “The Destroyer.”
She said no one had noted the satellite connection before, though.
“Hindu deity and a beer [Stella Artois], yes. Satellite bill, no.”
The Wire asked if she would have any interest in changing her name to STAVRA when and if the bill passes. “That’s a negative,” she said.
—John Eggerton
Showtime Wants ‘Money’ Fight, Too
NEW YORK — Like most who favor the sweet science, count Stephen Espinoza among those who would love to see Floyd Mayweather finally battle Manny Pacquiao.
Speaking at NewBay Media’s The Business of Live Television Summit, Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming, said of the long-awaited matchup between “Money” and “Pac Man” that “we’re going to make another run at that. It’s something that should happen. I don’t know if it will.”
It’s a fight that would be pay-per-view gold and would likely shatter boxing’s $150 million revenue record for Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez. Thus far, it hasn’t happened, amid disputes about drug testing methodologies and animus between the would-be participants.
But Mayweather only has two bouts left on his six-fight contract with Showtime, and Pacquiao is also near the end of his career. Espinoza said he’s hopeful a mega-bout could happen in 2015 during one of boxing and Mayweather’s May and September windows.
Espinoza told The Wire contributor R. Thomas Umstead that Mayweather’s most recent fight, another win over Marcus Maidana on Sept. 13 following their earlier confrontation in May, was a win for Showtime from broadcast, event and financial metrics.
Mayweather’s fights have been producing 900,000 to 1 million buys, and even drew theater-goers. Harkening back to the closed-circuit days before residential pay-perview, 600 screens were in play nationwide for Mayweather-Maidana, two-thirds of which were “sold out at $20 a pop.” All the more potential viewers should The Big One happen.
— Mike Reynolds
