I was scouring the Internet for news worthy stories about karate and came across this New York Times article entitled, “TV Sports; Coming on the Digital Sports Dial: A Selection of Singular Sensations.” This peaked my interest and I found a Black Belt TV channel that is or will be coming to a cable provider near you, here. This is not the actual website but has the information. This will give an overview (I believe) of what the cable channel will be about.
This TV channel apparently will be about all things martial arts! In this post I will provide some insight to the content and delivery methods including over the Internet. Here is the first video I found about the new channel.
Initially it looks like the Black Belt TV will try to compete with Spike TV! You know the Man Show and that ilk, but I found a longer video that shows some the of the content that should be interesting for all viewers.
So far the interest for me is the varied programing. Apparently there will be 24 hours of martial arts programing. I can see it now on some insomniatic night, watching the latest iteration of black belt theater! Right now the best chance I have for martial arts are usually Spike, Versus, or the odd IFC movie.
I called my cable provider and found out that the guy I talked to had not even heard of Black Belt TV. How might you watch this channel in your area? You might be luckier than I am and have it in your media provider’s lineup. Another way to get it is apparently with a P2P client or web plugin. Here is the actual website that was listed on the overview video.
The website reportably offers streaming video via a TVU Web Player Component. I’m a little worried about loading a non-standard plugin just to watch an enhanced feature. P2P (or peer to peer) networks can have unwanted advertising or unintended software installed alongside the loaded application. Here is some more information about P2P networks and the TVU client.
I had a bad experence a while back where either I or my wife loaded a virus by allowing a plugin to load. I fought the virus for a day and was unable to completely clean it out and eventually lost access to my computer. I had to reinstall from a ntbackup on an external hard-drive (that was 2 weeks old). So if anyone does load this client - please report back on your results!
The website link I gave to you highlights some general information, programing and some fight jocks - that apparently are our movie guides. Here are some clips I found.
I loved the guy jumping into the tree! I remember when I was a kid and was trying to convince my friends that no one could do that or they would be in the Olympics! Still it is fun to see. I even found the Mortal Combat guy interviewed.
That was cool! The mortal combat guy telling us how commercialized karate has become? I do agree that the lack of respect aspect in some martial arts today is appalling but being a American - I like to make a buck as well as practice Martial Arts!
In closing, all I can say is I want my BBTV! How about you? 
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I just checked it out and it looks like it’ll be fun. Great find, thanks!
Wim
Thanks for telling us about this. It’s almost enough to make me reconsider not having cable.
Almost.
Hey Wim, hopefully this will be out soon as it seems to have all facets of martial arts.
Hey Cheri, No cable? I keep thinking about that but with my DVR I think I am spoiled - that and the occasional good programming.
Yeah, so cable. I got tired of paying $70+ bucks a month for 300 channels with nothing on. So I traded my cable bill for a $25 NetFlicks subscription.
This way I know that there’s always something at home I want to see.