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HBO and Showtime are at war and the battle between their boxing telecasts is a microcosm of the war that’s going on in the world of big business between their two parent companies, media giants AOL-Time Warner and Viacom. In the arena of televised boxing, these two companies do battle at least twice a month, trying to establish their uncontested dominance and ownership of an entire sporting franchise. Unlike other major professional sports such as the NFL and the NBA where each sport has consolidated itself under one organizational entity, boxing doesn’t function under the au****es of one dominant organization. So in order to televise a boxing match the networks don’t have to negotiate with a major organization for the right to televise it.
In other major sports, the networks have to sign multi-million dollar long terms contracts. Fox just closed a deal with the BCS for 320 million dollars for the rights to televise the three biggest college football bowl games for a four-year period. They also recently signed long-term contracts with the NFL and Major League baseball for almost 7 billion dollars. And I’m not even gong to touch upon the deals involving the NBA. Professional sports are big business folks, corporate business, and a lot of companies don’t want to make the investment necessary in order for their network to have an established sport. HBO televised Wimbledon for twenty-five years and they chose not to renew their contract in 2000 when it became obvious that the price to televise Tennis’s premiere event was going to increase substantially, beyond what HBO was willing to pay. [details]
In other major sports, the networks have to sign multi-million dollar long terms contracts. Fox just closed a deal with the BCS for 320 million dollars for the rights to televise the three biggest college football bowl games for a four-year period. They also recently signed long-term contracts with the NFL and Major League baseball for almost 7 billion dollars. And I’m not even gong to touch upon the deals involving the NBA. Professional sports are big business folks, corporate business, and a lot of companies don’t want to make the investment necessary in order for their network to have an established sport. HBO televised Wimbledon for twenty-five years and they chose not to renew their contract in 2000 when it became obvious that the price to televise Tennis’s premiere event was going to increase substantially, beyond what HBO was willing to pay. [details]
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