Octagon Hires Pave Way For More Athlete Reality TV Shows

John Ferriter Joins Octagon

The trend of athletes "headlining their own reality television shows is certain to become more intense following new hires at Octagon," according to John Ourand in next week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Octagon Thursday named former William Morris Agency Exec VP & Worldwide Head of Non-Scripted Television JOHN FERRITER Octagon Entertainment Management Dir and "signed a sports affiliation deal with Hollywood agency Ken Lindner & Associates," moves that put Octagon at the "center of the athlete-as-TV star trend." Octagon this week "brokered the deal to place" Bengals WR Chad OchocinCo's planned reality show on VH1, and Octagon Athletes & Personalities President PHIL DE PICCIOTTO "promised more such moves to come." De Picciotto: "We are now better able to pair our sports talent with an entertainment platform." De Picciotto added that the moves will "allow Octagon to handle everything from creating a show and negotiating with various networks to syndicating and distributing the show and branding it." De Picciotto "believes Octagon's new entertainment approach will help it attract clients." De Picciotto: "We have the ability to be much more attractive to other clients" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/15 issue). Ferriter said that he "quietly starting working at Octagon 'a little while' ago and already has put together a dozen projects," including Ochocinco's reality show. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Nellie Andreeva notes Ferriter's new job at Octagon is "somewhat reminiscent of the move" former HBO Chair & CEO Chris Albrecht made to become IMG Global Media President when the agency "was looking to raise its entertainment profile" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 3/12).

SUMMER MADNESS: "The Tournament," the working title of Ochocinco's VH1 show, is set to premiere in July and will feature 10 one-hour episodes. The series will start with Ochocinco traveling the U.S. to meet women that may be interested in dating him. During the first episode, Ochocinco will narrow a list of 85 candidates down to the sweet sixteen, with four women from each of the four regions of the country. The 16 chosen women will be invited to join the series for the rest of the tournament-style dating competition (VH1). In Chicago, Kyle Koster wrote, "I never knew Ochocinco was a more suave version of ESPN's JOE LUNARDI" (SUNTIMES.com, 3/11). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote "like his friend," free agent WR TERRELL OWENS, it seems Ochocinco "wants to parlay his football career into an acting career, if for no other reason than to remain in the spotlight and get paid a lot of money to do something other than work" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 3/11). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser: "You cannot escape him. Child please, get off my TV!" ("PTI," ESPN, 3/11).