Info on Primetime TV

From Kevin Mitchell in the guardian.

Primetime, which did not exist until recently, still has no commentary team in place (although there are plenty of good people to choose from among the 450 employees made redundant in the collapse of Setanta's British outlet), and no commitment to stay in boxing.

Primetime is not a 24-hour-a-day TV station; it is a one-off, pay-per-view exercise. If the numbers add up, execs there say they may stay in boxing. If not, they will fold their tent and leave town.

Ray Mia, a Portland consultant, says: "We want to put on at least one pay-per-view event a month. We're going to see how it goes. The show will be live from 8pm, including the undercard and Arthur Abraham against Jermain Taylor. From 8 October we will be screening Carl's last two fights as well as the reality series, Access All Areas, about the Super Six tournament, which features six of the top 10 super-middleweights in the world."

It is 15 years since Lennox Lewis fought Oliver McCall in London on Wire TV, and was knocked out in the second round. Wire TV disappeared without trace. Lennox recovered to great effect. His friends hope Froch does not have to go through that sort of experience.

The Super Six series is hugely ambitious. Trying to get two fighters into the ring at the same time is tough enough; keeping six of them on their best behaviour over a tournament that is likely to last two years could be a legal and logistical nightmare.

Primetime are up for night one of the Super Six, but they have yet to negotiate coverage of Mikkel Kessler, the favourite, who fights Andre Ward in the third showdown on 17 November.

So this tournament is not yet totally in place for British fans. Without a long-term domestic agreement, Froch will have to negotiate each time to ensure he is seen at home.

Showtime say they are committed to the project and have the participants locked into contracts with penalty clauses to ensure they fulfil their commitments. Froch, I understand, is guaranteed £1m for his round-robin of fights, more if he gets to the final, and will try to pick up money from other outlets along the way – which is where Primetime came in.

David McConachie, who has worked with Frank Warren and is the managing director of Queensbury Media, helped set up the deal between Portland TV and Froch. The fighter did not have much bargaining clout, though, given the lack of interest from the BBC, ITV and Sky. He even talked to the new internet site, HattonTV. It is unlikely he will be making a fortune from it.

Apart from all that, though, this is a fight that should be on prime-time British TV. Froch is a genuine world champion, with a real belt. He is a dedicated professional who deserves more than the shoddy treatment he has received over the past six months or so.

His last fight, when he went to Connecticut and knocked out Taylor in the final round in the first defence of his WBC title, was a thriller – and that, ludicrously, ended up online.

Showtime, however, loved it, and they will stay in the Carl Froch business as long as he keeps fighting like that. It is a big ask, one that might seriously stretch him, especially against Kessler.

Froch's promoter, Mick Hennessy, a feisty, hardworking type who has beavered away for several years in the shadow of the Franks, Warren and Maloney, talked optimistically the night of the Taylor fight of getting Carl's next defence on a new ITV pay-per-view outlet. It was, he said, the future. It hasn't happened.

Sources tell me there have been tensions in the Froch camp, as he grows more frustrated by the lack of recognition for his ability and with the rebuffs from British TV executives. It is not the way to prepare for a difficult fight against a hungry young prospect such as Dirrell, who is quick and hits very hard.

 

theres rumours that ITV could stick with Hennesey as there getting 10 times the viewers as normal ITV4 shows. No shock.

If they did decent price PPV's. say £10 every month which had a Hennesey card with at least 2 domestic or a world title fight, followed by a US card, I wouldnt mind.