Ringside hypocrisy......

I've just watched this weeks Ringside (pretty good episode in my opinion, the clip of Eubank trying to psych out Calzaghe before their fight was brilliant), but I just have to post this thread on the total hipocrisy of Sky with regards to the discussion on boxings future.

For those who haven't seen it yet, it was towards the end of episode and the discussion involved a female MP who is trying to increase exposure for the game and the female presenter who does the roaming interviews at the fights (I can't remember the MP's name but I think the presenter is called Charlie?).

There was Johnny Nelson quoting all these marvellous figures about the huge increase of people attending boxing clubs since the olympics, both he, Adam Smith and the ladies (with not much input of note from Joe Calzaghe!) were banging on about how wonderful it is (which of course I agree with wholeheartedly) and how important it is to increase the sports exposure and promote it to the general public, whilst at the same time Sky have massively reduced their boxing coverage and are showing less now than at almost anytime in its history!

They now look like delivering just the one show a month on average, and although these shows are generally of a good quality, and they now tend to be three instead of two hours long, they are still heavily edited and don't show a great amount of the undercard action.

It is not that long a go that Sky were delivering a live two hour show nearly every week during the season, often having both a Friday and Saturday 'Fight Night' in the same week!; for Sky to deny that their boxing content has reduced dramatically is simply untrue.

Due to the decline in boxing output from the terrestrial channels and the huge numbers of people now able to have access to Sky Sports in their homes, Sky are the main way most people get to see the sport on TV and for them to do an article celebrating the growth of the sport whilst reducing their support of it is laughable and reeks of hipocrisy.

I know that this forum has its supporters and detractors of both Sky and Boxnation, but his is not about who is best and who is worst.

This is simply about the major provider of televised boxing in this country taking the decision to reduce its boxing budget at a time when the sport is at its best (public perception wise) for quite some time.

The discussion and its irony really annoyed me.

 

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

:good Spelt right in the actual piece though!

I like Adam Smith a lot, and agree that he is most likely doing his very best.......

good

 

I think the point I'm trying to make is getting rather lost here.........

I'm not Sky bashing (I'm a long time subscriber), I'm not Adam Smith bashing (I like the fella, have done for a long time), and I'm not implying that any other channel is any better than Sky.

All I'm saying is that at a time when the sport is more popular domestically than it has been for quite some time (the Olympics, Hattons return and even the Haye/Chisora fight have all played a part in this), it would really benefit from some extra coverage from Sky.

Instead they have chosen to reduce the coverage.

They have chosen to spend the money on other sports such as F1, this really disappoints me as a boxing fan, particularly when you consider that the price paid for the rights to broadcast just one F1 race are as much as several months worth of live boxing (I have read that Sky have paid between 30 and 40 million pounds for the overall rights).

As a dedicated sports channel they have an obligation to give the viewer the best coverage they can on as many sports as possible, I understand that they are a business and must make decisions accordingly, but I just feel that their decison to reduce the boxing output and work with just the one promoter is extremely disappointing.

How can any boxing fan disagree with this?!

What they have done is not good for the fans and not good for the sport, and I just felt that for them to sit there and bang on about how important it is that more resources and funding are put into the sport whilst they give little or no attention to the amatuer game and reduce coverage smacked of hypocrisy.

How can anyone think that the direction Sky Sports have chosen to go in with boxing is good for the sport?!