Its ironic that Hearn used to have a pop at Frank for being on Boxnation and how he had a blue chip broadcast partner yet if he does go to DAZN for his UK shows, its kinda like being on Boxnation. DAZN is just an app as well not a channel. If Sky only end up showing Matchroom ppvs, they will literally be a parasite on the remaining carcass of British boxing.
Well apart from the fact Boxnation had about 50,000 subscribers at its peak compared to 8 million for DAZN. Netflix is only an app and not even a channel!
You're right about Netflix. I'm talking about DAZN in the UK only. Have they got 50000 subscribers at the moment ( I'm one of them).
Haha, please don't compare Netflix to DAZN. The latter's last accounts showed them losing $1.4 billion.
Matchroom certainly are keen on putting their sports on their own app now. Do fully expect MR to not fully be with Sky. Perhaps PPV only or something. Just depends on how the casual audience take to non Sky
10 years ago Sky Sports had a monopoly on sports broadcasting. Some guy on here (he knew someone who worked in Sky but I cannot remember his user name) made a bold prediction that the monopoly would be over within 10 years due to advances in technology. Man has landed on moon
I see MR leaving Sky. I also see MR badly regretting it. Sky has viewership and a stable business model
If this happens will be interesting to see how Eddie does without a 24 hour news channel spewing his propaganda. I'd be very surprised if Sky and Eddie part ways in all honesty, Sky would be throwing away guaranteed PPV loot and an almost monopoly on British boxing and Eddie would be taking a massive gamble going all in on DAZN.
That's not the same thing at all. Box nation was a done out of neccessity rather than choice. Matchroom going to DAZN rather than Sky would be because DAZN are offering a competitive deal vs what Sky are offering. Personally I would be shocked if Matchroom UK to DAZN as thats saying goodbye to PPV revenue. This would mean DAZN are prepared to offer huge guarantees to those fighters that generate ppv buys. That's a huge investment for a service which only offers boxing. Say they raise the price to £10 a month. To the hardcore boxing fan that looks like decent value but DAZN need to get more than boxing fans and matchroom boxing to a generic sports fan might not be worth £10 a month. That £10 is still an extra monthly payment as they are not going to give up sky sports when Sky still have football, Golf, Cricket, F1 etc etc.
BoxNation was not out of necessity, it was an investment at a time Sky wasn't particularly bothered about boxing. Sky got incredibly lucky that Eddie Hearn fancied giving boxing a go, against his dad's better judgement, and used the PDC darts tactics to make it a big night out and a TV event. Nobody can deny it's been fun at times - my own favourite being Froch vs Bute for what it's worth. As someone said earlier in this thread, maybe moving to DAZN will give boxing a chance to recover back to what it should be - and reduce this casual narrative that if a boxer isn't working towards a world title by fighting 2-3 times a year on Sky, they're a failure.
Listening to Eddie Hearns IFL interview in post Andrade Williams card whilst the subject of Sky was never mentioned the underline theme was how great it was for fighters to be on the Network and that was DAZN ! That must be a kick in the teeth for Sky and affect the relationship.
Yeah I thought the same. However it was in the US, SKY have shown no interest in the past few years in US fights, I’m sure they could’ve won UK rights for it if they wanted to.
Netflix have never turned a profit either. You was saying?? On demand platforms exist to drive out competition. Once they do that they can drive prices and turn a major profit.
It’s a huge gamble. But I heard somewhere that DAZN have offered to effectively double the rights fees in the UK and have made it incredibly difficult to turn down for Hearn. I personally think Hearn wanted to stay with Sky but DAZN have put up so much money it’s difficult to turn down. He said this week that the money would be life changing to his boxers. DAZN can spread the cost of having the UK rights across their other territories. For instance rather than a Whyte vs Povetkin fight being on UK PPV and selling limited international rights. DAZN will buy the global rights which will far outweighs just the UK PPV. AJ reportedly only has 1 fight left on his Sky deal. It gives DAZN and entry point into the UK market and I wouldn’t be surprised if Matchrooms Darts, Snooker etc followed them. To give worldwide content. I have also heard that DAZN are potentially taking the UFC rights from BT when their contract is up at the end of the year. If that happens they will be the only place for fight fans in the UK to go.
