BoxRec

anyone have a complete listing of all the live fights that company had broadcast back in the 1970's ?
they use to show live Auto Racing,golf, tennis and had a "Fight of the Month" too.
Did they have a archival library with VHS tapes of all the SPORTS/fights shown ?
what was the first and the last live fight broadcast by them ?
the address of American Telesports Network Inc. back then was 120 E. 56th Street New York City

It's unlikely that they were kept on VHS, but that doesn't mean the tape doesn't exist. That's actually of interest to me as well since USAC and the NHRA both utilized American Telesports Network. Just for clarification, the ATN was a company who distributed live sporting events via syndication rather than a "network" as we often identify things now.

I'm at home, my cat is dying, I work remotely, and I'm killing time before going to bed. I'm going nowhere. I did some Google-fu and found a guy who's alive and on Facebook that got into TV production working with Bill Schwing at Transmedia (the parent company for ATN) around the time that they got into televising this stuff. Guess we can see where it takes us...

I don't want to get people's hopes up super high, but if you can believe it, I have leads! The guy I messaged on facebook was employee of Transmedia/ATN #1 and he gave me a ton of info via phone. I've emailed the PBS affiliate in Trenton, as they moved into the old studio there and he doesn't believe the tapes were ever moved out. Turns out that Transmedia/ATN collapsed in debt and he had to hide the broadcasting/production trucks to prevent them from being repo'ed prior to the last event they did (a US Ski event in Lake Tahoe in 1971). The company may have existed past that date on paper, but employees with purchasing cards were being held liable for thousands in charges. It was a nasty way to end, though the owner kept people busy and paid for another year and a half after he started a new and similar venture in October of 1971.

I also got the contact info for employee #2, who I'm told resides in The Villages. Let's see where this takes us....

zorndeslammes wrote: ↑16 Jan 2022, 21:30 It's unlikely that they were kept on VHS, but that doesn't mean the tape doesn't exist. That's actually of interest to me as well since USAC and the NHRA both utilized American Telesports Network. Just for clarification, the ATN was a company who distributed live sporting events via syndication rather than a "network" as we often identify things now.

I'm at home, my cat is dying, I work remotely, and I'm killing time before going to bed. I'm going nowhere. I did some Google-fu and found a guy who's alive and on Facebook that got into TV production working with Bill Schwing at Transmedia (the parent company for ATN) around the time that they got into televising this stuff. Guess we can see where it takes us...

Stuart Ross was listed as the 'excutive producer" of American Telesports. iNC
if he is still alive how old would he be ?

BTW What was the company that televised Joe Frazier vrs Ron Stander heavyweight title fight in 1972 ?
I seem to remember that it was also syndicated to local TV stations to broadcast.
"TVS" ( the writing is too blurry under it to really read on this video footage)
I dont watch fights with audio on usually, maybe they say the company's name in it tho.
( looks like the video footage of it has been edited
or rather since VHS tapes were expensive then
they just turned on the VCR during the rounds and stopped it in between rounds
to have more space on the VHS tape for future recordings.

Here is some footage of another live Boxing event
that was shown (on cable)in " 20 Key cities across the USA" on a Monday Evening May.19.1969.
anyone know which company broadcast it ?

Caractacus wrote: ↑18 Jan 2022, 15:52 Stuart Ross was listed as the 'excutive producer" of American Telesports. iNC
if he is still alive how old would he be ?

I'm sure he's not. Ross was chief counsel for Allied Artists before he formed Transmedia with Schwing. I could probably ask if I wanted to, but I would guess he's been dead for 20+ years at least. There's very few of the people left (it wasn't a very big operation) so it's sort of fortuitous I found anyone at all.

I first heard of The America Telesports Network in Earnie Shavers autobiography (2000)
He wrote he fought in a preliminary
for the Bob Foster vrs Ray Anderson Light Heavyweight Championship
(April 1971, at Curtis, Hixon Hall (8,000 seat venue in Tampa Florida)
(Archie Moore was ringside for colour commentary)
it was shown on about 53 stations across the USA