Matchroom Boxing leaving Sky?

Nah WWE had nothing do with it. There were rumours sky was gonna go in for UFC after eleven sports folded but they again didn't make any offer.

 

The Premier League has secured approval in principle for a three-year renewal of its TV rights deal with UK broadcast partners, including Sky Sports.

Just don't see Dazn working in the UK without Premier league football.

 

Yep no football means dazn would be small fry.

 

DAZN only works in the UK if they a) get a smart app on most tele’s (not sure if they do already?) and b) secure the biggest fights for a casual.

For example, one Joshua or Fury fight adds a lot of subscribers. Otherwise they’re waiting for another star to break through, but if they got one that caught the casual market like Groves / Froch did I imagine they’d do well. Eubank Jr would be a good target for them

 

I imagine the announcement regards to the move is relatively imminent now.

 

Yep.... they havent been announcing dates going forward as the deal is nearly up. I think the Newcastle show is the last on the deal.

I think plan is then to have a break and launch with fight camp. Will be very interesting if DAZN dont have any UK football rights what their plan will be.

But I am sure Hearn must have ensured they have plans in place to give his fighters the exposure needed. I have heard a lot of rumours the BT UFC deal is up later this year and maybe DAZN jump on that to make it initially the number 1 fight platform in the UK. Would be a smart business plans as would create a core subscriber base and PPV in the UK isnt a big earner for the UFC.

 

BT Sport is up for sale though apparently. I'm not sure how that would work but it could be their big chance.

 

So this silly talk of sky losing premier League football stops for another three years.

 

Its an odd one as they might just be sellimg a share.
If i was to pluck a wild guess out the sky id say the fact Amazon have gone along with this means they might buy a share in BT and show it on prime?

@Trafford might have more insight

 

So will there be boxing on sky sports anymore?

 

A female fight league is signed up for 8 shows.

Oh and Mayweather vs Logan Paul on PPV.

Yikes.

 

So the answer is NO then lol

 

My understanding is BT need a cash injection to invest in other areas of the business. BT Sports has been leaking money due to the amount they spent on buying into the market.

Not privvy how or what exactly BT are selling as its very much a decision for the execs at BT. Whispers were in an ideal world someone would buy into the channel as an investment. That hasnt attracted much interest. Then heard they were looking at selling a stake to other providers such as ITV, Amazon and DAZN, also exploring the possibility of selling a stake along with broadcast rights. So ITV for instance buy a 20% share and will be able to show BT's Champions League games on a dual broadcast for instance.

Not sure again how likley that is. But I would imagine it would be an easier sell to content providers. The last option would be to sell on the rights. For instance sell the premier league package, which doesnt free up immediate cash which BT want to do. But does allow them to recoup large sums over the next 2-3 years.

Buying BT doesnt assist DAZN unless its for a steal and comes with all the content, however all the while they are cash strapped they will not be going in heavily on content which plays into the hands of DAZN

 

DAZN will have to launch a broadcast TV channel if they want UFC. When Eleven sports took UFC rights from BT sport, UFC had a stipulation put in saying they had to launch a TV channel by certain date or they can issue a break clause. They did that after eleven sports failed to launch a TV channel

 

Eleven sports was an upstart. DAZN are already the UFC broadcaster in Germany, Austria, italy, Spain and Japan amongst others and have fully launched in the UK.