HBO Crushes Showtime In Ratings Battle

bingo. haymon and mayweather took so long trying to leverage between both sides. they got the best deal for them. however they overpriced themselves.

quite simply they weren't worth the deal. hbo knew it through their own internals. so they said good bye and **** off. notice they aren't making any new deals with haymon or gbp fighters.

 

But of course HBO elected to cut off their nose to spite their face, as categorically refusing to work with Golden Boy results in a situation in which they're unable to leverage promotional companies against each other for better cards. Thus, when Chavez was competing with another ratings draw in Broner for a June date, actual quality middleweights were being mentioned as potential opponents. Now by contrast he has a guaranteed date against Brian freakin Vera and HBO can't do a damn thing about it since Chavez is one of their few draws left.

Your strategy would make more sense if we hadn't seen clear evidence over the last 2 years that CBS is willing to pump more money into the boxing budget, particularly as HBO's been cutting their own.

 

this is contingent on the belief that they can find/create stars from other promotions overseas or even in house, which HBO bleieves they can do.

 

top rank is hosting overseas fight cards for hbo (for example their china cards). hbo/top rank expanding their market overseas.

 

And this is why they will bleed financially for it, they banked on figures that were in the past to guarantee future amounts. The only problem is that they though Floyd would bring big name opponents, only to have Floyd try and make it the "Floyd Show" hence why May Day flopped and they lost money.


HBO is not stupid and know the writing on the well, if Showtime bleeds, what will be left for GBP, Haymon and Floyd???? GBP, Haymon and Floyd know this so they are trying to make things right by having Canelo bout next, to try and recoup/make up from last flop.


Your negotiation leverage is based on "options" if you dry out the "Showtime well" what will be left for you? HBO? IF they are the only ones with money, then suddenly you have no choices and the leverage at the negotiating table is on their side...and on their terms.


HBO is not stupid, besides boxing and TV series, they have managed to be very very successful Business wise.

 

It's pretty simple, HBO has a LOT more subscribers than SHowtime, and it's primarily just for the movies and the original programming that HBO provides. Showtime has been doing pretty well for themselves the past few years, they've put out some fantastic shows in their own right (i.e. Homeland,) but they're way behind the 8-ball as far as how many subscribers they have compared to HBO.

I disagree on the notion that the production value is SO much greater on HBO. I will say I like the 24/7 shows on HBO more than All Access on Showtime, but the venues themselves I don't see that much difference between the networks. i always thought Showtime has better commentators- Paulie Malignaggi is exponentially better than any of the professional/retired boxer commentators on HBO. Paulie provides some really good technical insight to the cast and in addition the former commentator of Strikeforce events Mauro Renallo is an excellent broadcaster in his own right. I've also been a fan of Bernstein since he commentated in the 80's and think he is superior to Max Kellerman who can get very bland and monotonous at times.

I truly believe Showtime puts on the much better cards but they have years upon years to go if they ever want to match HBO's #'s. It'll require them pumping out good movies and TV shows aside from good boxing matchups.