English Entertainment
USA Network teams up with HSN for ‘Inventors’ reality show
MUMBAI: US cable channel USA Network has come out with a reality TV concept. For this purpose it has tied up with the TV shopping network HSN. It is doing a promotion across the US urging people to participate.
The channel is looking for Americans who think that they have a revolutionary invention, but need that one big break to get their product out in the market. Made in the USA is a reality programme where America’s inventors and entrepreneurs get the opportunity to turn their dreams and passions into reality.
Entrants have the opportunity to polish and pitch their products for the chance to have it sold live on HSN. Contestants will participate in competitions, facing real-life challenges that inventors deal with in getting their product out to the public.
Each week, products and inventors will be eliminated until the ultimate pay-off when one inventor team wins a contract with HSN. One of the conditions for applying is that the invention or product must at least be at the prototype stage and the prototype must work and be something than can be seen and touched. If the invention or product is beyond the prototype stage, it cannot already have been mass-produced. It must be either ready for manufacturing or have only previously had a small production run.
USA Network claims to be seen in over 88 million US homes.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
