Could Arum's Showtime/CBS Model threaten Sky?

Hauser's quality.

I wish that ITV were a threat to Sky, can't see it anywhere in the near future though.

 

Problems with this

1) No terrestrial channel currently shows boxing.
2) No terrestrial channel has links with a PPV channel.
3) The only succesful PPV channel in the UK for Sport is Sky Box Office.
4) The reason for Arum jumping ship is to get more advertising slots to gain more PPV buys. BSkyB own major newspapers, magazines etc already.
5) Sky Box Office will be lucky to have one PPV every 5 years that is as high profile and high level as a Pacquiao fight.

Everyone bangs on about boxing doing amazing viewing figures which is constantly proven not to be the case and viewing figures don't matter its advertising revenue. Companys don't want to advertise on boxing shows for several reasons.

Boxing is a nieche Sport in the UK the sooner everyone involved realises this the better of we will be.

 

Your ITV Warren idea intrigues me.

The main concern is that all these promoters should be putting on the very best cards they can and then there should be healthy competition in bidding for it. If the promoter can't find a buyer then his product should sell itself in a venue or even their own PPV like King and Arum have done. Truth is, the promoter puts on **** and TV buys ****. Its **** producing ****.

We need strong cards from top to bottom. All the guys earning low money should be fighting for bonuses to ensure they come to fight. All the big names should be proven commodities in the best fight that can be made.

All wishful thinking.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a niche sport, it has dropped off yes but David Haye, Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan are as popular a sportsman as you could wish to see, DeGale is now also close to becoming something quite big too.. I think boxing will be huge again in this country by the end of the year I really do believe that..

 

Will look forward to reading this article when i buy it on fri

I thought ITV were flirting with a PPV service not too long ago im sure if they could get a legitimate PPV star they would love to make the money that he would bring in.

I would say we have approximately one big ppv per year and another 1 or 2 that are at least money makers

 

Boxing could be major again. It was huge in the 1990s before the Watson/McClellan injuries put a lot of people off. With improved safety measures and terrestial coverage it could go big again. The 600-700,000 sales that Haye-Harrison did @ £15 tells you that boxing can capture the imagination. If Haye-Harrison had been on ITV I reckon it would have done 10 million viewers.

ITV could sort out PPV through Primetime or a similar set-up. Primetime cannot attract the biggest fights/the publicity but ITV could. I would also think Channel 5 might consider boxing as a broadcast possiblility.

 

Arum's CBS model is horse****.

Look at MMA. Both EliteXC and Strikeforce had CBS. Both ended up as failures. The UFC had basic cable television, ended up a success.

The problem with network programming is that to secure a half decent rating you have to sacrifice legit ppv main events. Whereas on basic cable you can get away with putting on second-string fighters and drawing just a 1.0 or 2.0 rating (depending on how good the demos on). Plus the network affiliates are so uneasy with trying new things that the clearance will be way down on normal and so the reach will be no higher than a cable station anyway.

What boxing needs is HBO to strike up a partnership with Turner Sports. Have the hype specials on Turner, have the occasional special on Turner, have replays of great matches on Turner. Just do something to give boxing a regular platform away from ESPN2 or pay cable.

 

HBO have been going backwards for years.

Their execs have been in the pockets of DLH/Schaefer and Al Haymon.

Look at Berto getting big sums for fights against people like Steve Forbes and Fernandez or whatever his name was..... they tried putting Mosley vs Mayorga on PPV and taken lots of TV dates from people like DiBella, Shaw and also Arum.

Let's face it, Showtime are kicking their arse big time at the minute..... much like ITV and Setanta were kicking Sky a couple of years ago.

Until they fire pretty much everyone in authoritative positions at HBO they will just be left with GBP and their hype jobs that invariably get KTFO in their first major test..... the list is endless.

Bring back DiBella and most of their ills will be sorted, Arum has admitted as much himself several times.

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As for ITV, it's definitely a viable option for the reasons Gasman has outlined.

People will watch boxing, so long as it's promoted properly and they can see the best guys fighting the best guys. What they don't want is two lads in the same division fighting stiffs on the same bill for British and Commonwealth titles respectively..... or blatant cashgrabs like Haye vs Harrison.

My mobile was buzzing with texts all the way through Froch vs Pascal, saying ''where's this bloke been hiding, never heard of him'' or ''he'd have a chance against Calzaghe''.

There is interest out there - it's a case of tapping into it rather than taking the quick buck.

Hopefully with Hatton gone, Khan in the States and Haye retiring (fingers crossed) we might be on the verge of a sea change.

After all, Lewis and Bruno didn't become mainstream stars fighting three times a year on PPV undercards, did they?

 

David Haye & Amir Khan fall into the same category as Phil Taylor, Ronnie O'Sullivan etc. Stars in a sport with few stars.

Go to all the websites of the newspapers and see if they have a boxing section or whether its put under "other sports". How many boxing articles are in the paper a week? Boxing is very much a niche sport.

I don't agree DeGale is close to being something big. How many people watched his last two fights? They were on PPV's. The highest viewing figure for a DeGale fight since the Olympics is 250k for the Mitchell card.

 

That isnt a significant barrier - it is fixed as soon as someone like Warren brings his stable. They have a history of showing boxing.

this is true.


Could the likes of ITV or BBC not set up a PPV channel of encrypt the fight on one of its other channels. It is very easy to set up a PPV channel on the Sky platform, I can really see how an established national broadcaster would have a problem figuring out how to launch a PPV event on one of their channels if they wanted to do it.

PPV and PPV Boxing has been around in the UK for 20 years. If they haven't done it yet why would they start now??


Of course. But in business there are lot of examples of companies getting trumped by newcomers. 2 years ago Google didnt have a smartphone but now Android has overtaken the market leader Nokia.

This is because they were offering something better than there competitor. What can BBC and ITV offer which is better than Sky. Your asking them to still go boxing.


There is no substitute for primetime terrestial tv advertisement in terms of visual impact and the huge reach. Arum is promoting his fights to 115 million homes with as opposed to 30 million with HBO and he is doing it in primetime tv slots.

Sky run adverts of terrestrial tv for PPV's and across is media empire. Half of the country has some form of satellite TV. At least 90% of people who watch sports and would be prepared to pay for boxing will subscribe to Sky or Virgin.


Pacman is a unique example, but boxing will throw up new PPV stars it always does. In the UK, there is a very good chance that James Degale will emerge as a major PPV star or someone else.

Pacquiao is not unique because before him there was other fighters getting a 500,000+ PPV sales De La Hoya, Mayweather, Trinidad. In the US there is always a PPV star because the US audience accept and embrace PPV.


Boxing isnt doing huge figures on HBO - but it could potentially do a lot more on CBS/Showtime network.

This was not my point.

 

Pacquiao is not unique because before him there was other fighters getting a 500,000+ PPV sales De La Hoya, Mayweather, Trinidad. In the US there is always a PPV star because the US audience accept and embrace PPV. All the fighters i named and those before them became PPV stars by having mega fights and building there profile for years and years. How is DeGale going to emerge as a PPV star when his fights are already shown on PPV to a very small audience? Amir Khan is proof of what happens when you try and microwave an attraction, the same is happening with DeGale.

Hatton for years 3-4 years built up a name for himself, established himself an an exciting cant miss attraction before he went on PPV on his own for the Tysuzu fight. Then he continued to build on it. Next fight a unification, then his US debut, then Castillo a mega fight at the time, then the big one Mayweather. Theres no momentum behind DeGale or Khan.

With Haye he has the fact he is a Heavyweight on his side. But whatever you think about the guy he can sell a fight like nobody else in British Boxing history and the numbers he got back that up. Before fights he is on every single TV & Radio show talking about the fight. He is on these shows because people like him and want to watch him not because Adam Booth has paid for £1million worth of ad space during Corination street for 6 weeks. Its the same with Pacquiao being on the talk shows in America.

Haye also had fights which sold. Valuev, the 10ft russian for the Heavyweight title, then the homecoming agaisnt Ruiz, and then Fraudley. All these fights had a story and they got huge PPV buys becasue people wanted to watch, they wern't forced to watch because there a boxing fan or a sports fan thats had it rammed down there throat on Sky.

Hayes camp know that Chagaev will not do as high numbers and they would be bitterly disapointed with them but I guarentee that fight would do double what Khan vs McCloskey/Bradley does or any Frank Warren Mag 7 style event

 

That's what I'm advocating. The key to get back onto basic cable. Boxing won't be a regular draw on network television unless you kill your ppv business by giving away fights. TNT or TBS would be the perfect platform.

Honestly look at how the UFC uses Spike. The events it puts on there feature young, up and coming fighters they're grooming for title shoots while in the week leading up to a UFC show the station plays the hype station repeatedly.