They showed a boring heavyweight fight in the wee hours of the morning (not their fault with the time but could have been replayed later aka SBS and early morning soccer) If they had gotten the rights and aired the Katsidis/Diaz fight, a fight on at a great time for Aussies and featuring an Aussie and an action fight which would have appealing to general sports fans, they would have had a winner. Is this the end of free to air live Boxing ?
Lots of Blood and puffed up faces doesnt always appear to the general public. A different fight may have been better. One that had a lot of action, but less blood... Not that I personally mind the blood or anything
My take on it... After the Klitschko-Ibragimov snorefest they realised they wouldn't get a great PPV buy rate vs Thompson. So they offered it fta at a reduced price thereby opening Klit up to other markets. Australia, being in the worst possible time zone probably had an extremely reduced rate and ten took it, possibly with an eye on their future boxing coverage. Ten didn't expect huge numbers at that time of morning, remember its normally informecials around then so depending on the price it might have been a wise investment or a solid lemon. Last I heard informercials are around $4G an hour but that may be way off. I think 10-20 grand would have been fair cos honestly, who here would've paid $30-$50 for Klitschko-Thompson on Main Event? The two people who said yes go to the back of the room.
its just one show, they didnt think much imo showing that fight, but i still enjoyed it. the show on the 25th of next month is important, lets wait and see the ratings of that.
Would be interesting to know how the HW fight rated. Because that's largely all the TV stations care about. Though it was great to see a FTA telecast, the HW match was really boring to watch. The Katsisdis fight would have been much better but the blood may have been an issue for non-harcore fans and amy have set the cause back. Thankfully Channel 10 are having another crack at FTA in late October, with a local card. Advertising will play a big part in any future FTA transmissions, and hopefully there's a demorgraphic of young people with money to spend who may tune in and satisfy the sponsors.
Interesting Leon. Like anything if there's a market for it you can make money. Ten would hope to capture an audience of boxing fans young and old that would dedicate themselves to watching boxing within a timeslot that doesn't clash with mainstream programs. Im hopeful that while Ten would love to captivate a new audience, there target market would be us, the boxing fans. If WE can provide enough support and the price is right to sustain further non primetime broadcasts, at least in the short term, then maybe further risks may be taken with Ten in respect of buying more expensive fights based in the US, that also interupts a prime arvo slot. But for now I say beggers can't be choosers and I'll take boring old Wlad over nothing anyday!
With the PPV aired in the morning the other week on Ten and the upcoming local card (is that actually happening?) in the mix, it seems Channel 10 are interested in bringing boxing back to TV Along with what Leon says above, perhaps Channel Ten are testing the waters to see if it's a viable option - the cheap rate of the PPV was a good test maybe?
Spot on. The only reason I knew it was on was this forum. Who looks to see what's going to be on the TV in the hours when all sensible people are asleep?
I can't believe people are complaining about the time it was shown! It was on live! The first time since 1993. Obviously it was a success as there's more boxing coming up on Channel 10...
