Who knew Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg would become the new champions of California boxing regulation? The TV titans’ attack on Fox’s clone of their boxing reality show, The Contender, signals the rising tensions of the reality show business.
Last week, reality hotshot Burnett and DreamWorks CEO Katzenberg, producers of NBC’s upcoming show, sued Fox and Endemol over their rival project, The Next Great Champ. But they didn’t sue Fox for swiping Burnett’s idea, as NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker has charged in recent weeks. Instead, by producing Champ "on a rushed and frenzied basis," they contend that Fox and Endemol staged boxing matches without proper licenses.
Their request for an immediate injunction to block Fox from airing Champ failed, but they get another shot Sept. 8, two days before the show is scheduled to air.
