Pay per view in the 90s

I was thinking exactly the same thing :rofl

 

The shows were better value in the 90s but it was the 90s where the ppv **** started,tyson v Bruno I think was the first or was it Bruno v McCall. I remember Lennox v McCall being on some satellite channel nobody seemed to know how to get but I don't know if it was a channel like primetime or a sports subscription channel that failed.

As time has gone by the tv company has realized we will pay to watch a big fight even if the under card isn't up to much. The 90s shows were better because they were only testing the water. They now know they don't have to pay as much out for a good under card so the shows have got worse. Khan v presscott was a joke,to make people pay for only 1 fight is disgusting no matter how long the fight lasts.

Sky putting the Kessler fight on ppv is a disgrace. Their shows lately have been very poor and to put their first big fight in months on ppv is a **** take.

 

The first Sky PPV was Bruno/Tyson. I think Lewis/McCall was on Wire TV- which was a cable channel that wasn't around for long. It won the rights to a cricket World Cup in the mid nineties and folded before they could broadcast it.

 

It was Ensley Bingham, I've got it on VHS taped off the telly. Winky was a class above, I was about 7 or 8 when this card happened but I remember it being a cracking card. If memory serves Bingham was a late replacement for an injured Foster.

Naz hammered Argie Remigio Molina on that card too.

 

i recall ensley bingham fighting winky wright in a snoozefest on a ppv card with tyson and naz back in the day, think the wright bingham fight was manchester on a great card, then off the states for another card, those were the days

 

My old fella boxed Mexican Felipe Gonzalez on the first ppv in Britain back in January 1966.

 

Oh it is all bleedin' Rudkins fault is it!

But seriously what Al is pointing out is paying to watch boxing on PPV or indeed closed circuit has been around for a long time in this country.

And I hope Al would agree there was plenty of rubbish as well as the good, shown on closed circuit in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Unlike PPV, even if you got to see a good closed circuit bout, you had to go to a hall/cinema to watch it, and hope the picture and sound lasted the whole fight. Also often the fight would be in a big church/community hall, where a couple hundred people were trying to watch one 22" TV...

 

It's with threads like this that I realise I'm losing too much grey matter through beer. Impressive memories!

 

Me and some mates got absolutely tanked for Bruno Tyson II ppv. Dear old Frank was beaten before the first bell, total flop, but I always knew he was a bum. One mate fainted from bevvy on the street outside after Frank's loss.

 

I don't know how successful it was. It was called PayTV and it was 10 shillings. I think there was 2500 households got it. Basically it was an experiment.
Like you say we had closed circuit back then, Viewsport which I think was Jarvis Astaire's baby.

 

tbooze just told me about this.

wow....thats mad ....1966 !!......i've learned something today.

would love to know more about that.

 

Amir Khan vs Osin ***an has to be the worst fight on ppv in the UK a comeback fight for Khan who hadn't even been at world level against a nobody and nothing good on the undercard. Also David Haye vs Audley Harrison was a shockingly bad bill and of course the main event was a disgrace.