Ye Olde Days of Setanta

[LeftRightCombo]

Following Buncey's comments earlier about how much dough Sky were shelling out per episode on their new sports quiz show, got me thinking about how much the rights to a top flight bout (eg PBF-SMM) would cost. Being both a footie AND boxing fanatic, I subscribed to setanta in the beginning for the football, not really thinking about the channel showing top quality fights.

although my memory's a bit sketchy on this, I seem to remember either the day of, or the day before, Setanta started advertising the Cotto-Judah scrap. Couldn't belive my luck. As we all know now Setanta kept on deliverying (in the main) the best they could, almost to the point of being spoilt (although no Vasquez-Marquez ). They really stole a march on Sky who were caught napping, not really feeding us too much as they weren't competing with anyone.

Even though they are sadly gone, I still thank Setanta for doing the biz and making Sky pull their finger out !

[Lee Mc]

Originally Posted by LeftRightCombo

Following Buncey's comments earlier about how much dough Sky were shelling out per episode on their new sports quiz show, got me thinking about how much the rights to a top flight bout (eg PBF-SMM) would cost. Being both a footie AND boxing fanatic, I subscribed to setanta in the beginning for the football, not really thinking about the channel showing top quality fights.

although my memory's a bit sketchy on this, I seem to remember either the day of, or the day before, Setanta started advertising the Cotto-Judah scrap. Couldn't belive my luck. As we all know now Setanta kept on deliverying (in the main) the best they could, almost to the point of being spoilt (although no Vasquez-Marquez ). They really stole a march on Sky who were caught napping, not really feeding us too much as they weren't competing with anyone.

Even though they are sadly gone, I still thank Setanta for doing the biz and making Sky pull their finger out !

A few things...

Setanta were paying over-the-top prices to show sports and are NOT a good example.

Sky WERE showing us most of the best... How many times am I going to have to bring up Sky showing us the Tarver vs Hopkins show AND Cotto vs Malignaggi show both LIVE on the same night and, shortly before that, Wright vs Quartey and Taylor vs Spinks on bacl-to-back weekends?

Sky simply refused to match Setanta's stupid offers and, guess what, Setanta were the ones who went bankrupt...

[robpalmer135]

Originally Posted by Lee Mc

A few things...

Setanta were paying over-the-top prices to show sports and are NOT a good example.

Sky WERE showing us most of the best... How many times am I going to have to bring up Sky showing us the Tarver vs Hopkins show AND Cotto vs Malignaggi show both LIVE on the same night and, shortly before that, Wright vs Quartey and Taylor vs Spinks on bacl-to-back weekends?

Sky simply refused to match Setanta's stupid offers and, guess what, Setanta were the ones who went bankrupt...

Setanta were paying over the top for sports. There deal with Haye was supposed to be outrageous and becuase allot of the boxing promoters have a relationship with sky they had to pay over the odds to get them over.

theres a reason why ESPN, whos business model is to only pick up sports on the cheap (Setanta were pay 12x more for German football then ESPN) dont show much boxing and its because they dont make a profit from it.

the TV business is the same as anything else, you buy something for £1 and sell it £2. With Boxing you clearly cannot do that at the moment.

in the long run setanta is one of the worst things to happen to boxing on tv in the UK. Sky all but dropped there US boxing coverage, but didnt loose any customers. So now that setantas gone theres no reason for them to pick it back up again. TBH we are lucky there showing things like Berto vs Quintana im quite shocked about that

[Lee Mc]

Originally Posted by robpalmer135

TBH we are lucky there showing things like Berto vs Quintana im quite shocked about that

I'm not shocked at all Rob. These are the sort of fights that appeared quite often on Sky...

[robpalmer135]

Originally Posted by Lee Mc

I'm not shocked at all Rob. These are the sort of fights that appeared quite often on Sky...

true sky love Berto dont they?

remember sky used to show highlights of allot of fight cards on a friday night if there was no FFN.

maybe they should bring that back but on a tuesday or wednesday whens theres no champions league.

they could have easialy shown the JM Lopez/Gamboa card replay on the wednesday after it happened. also the Edwin Valero fight last month.

[diggler]

rip setanta it was miles better than sky sports and espn

[GazOC]

Sky were always pretty good at showing the very biggest fights but less good at the "hidden gems" that boxing fans really want to watch.

[Beeston Brawler]

Yeah I agree Gaz.

Mayweather vs DLH looked a great fight on paper but was about as exciting as watching paint dry..... compare that to some of the fights that Setanta gave us that didn't really look all that interesting and turned out great

[Dan684]

'UK Gold has the best Coverage"

OFAH repeats daily.... Bliss

[DUNNERS_2009]

Am going back before the days of Setanta, done a little bit of research Sky did show...

Injin Chi v Takashi Kosimoto on delayed coverage
Hozumi Hasegawa v Veeraphol Sahaprom delayed coverage

There the only two little gems I could find from the Far East...

Eurosport had Roy Jones Jnr v Prince Badi Ajamu

Nuts TV also had a Sauerland TV deal and showed a few good cards

[chrisfinch]

Originally Posted by DUNNERS_2009

Am going back before the days of Setanta, done a little bit of research Sky did show...

Injin Chi v Takashi Kosimoto on delayed coverage
Hozumi Hasegawa v Veeraphol Sahaprom delayed coverage

There the only two little gems I could find from the Far East...

Eurosport had Roy Jones Jnr v Prince Badi Ajamu

Nuts TV also had a Sauerland TV deal and showed a few good cards

Sauerland? good cards? I wasn't aware those two went together.

[jonnytightlips]

Originally Posted by Beeston Brawler

Yeah I agree Gaz.

Mayweather vs DLH looked a great fight on paper but was about as exciting as watching paint dry..... compare that to some of the fights that Setanta gave us that didn't really look all that interesting and turned out great

Its not Sky's fault that DLH-Mayweather wasnt a great fight.

[Bodysnatcher]

edit

[robpalmer135]

pretty sure maywether vs dlh was pre setanta boxing. judah cotto was the first fight in the lead up to hatton vs castillo

[Beeston Brawler]

Originally Posted by jonnytightlips

Its not Sky's fault that DLH-Mayweather wasnt a great fight.

Yeah I know.... but my point was that Sky rarely think outside the box when it comes to boxing, unlike other sports.

I'm not saying they shouldn't have got it, it was a must-see, but as with plenty of DLH's fights (Floyd's for that matter) was a bit of a letdown.