Primetime Looking To Put On More Boxing Events
By Terence Dooley
It was a case of ‘Ask and you shall be advised’ on Saturday after a complaint about Primetime’s delivery, or not in some cases, of Amir Khan’s stoppage win over Zab Judah netted an instant response from the station via their representative Andrew Taylor.
Grumbles ahead of this contest included problems with recording the broadcast if it was booked via the telephone or online, the murky picture quality in comparison to Sky TV’s PPV output and problems contacting the Primetime team via telephone, with some calls either terminated completely once the automated menu stage has been completed or customers referred back to Sky’s customer service line only to be told by Sky’s operatives that Primetime themselves are dealing with the PPV event.
Andrew contacted Boxingscene within minutes of receiving a list of questions regarding their delivery of the Khan fight. He started with the problems associated with recording the show. “Basically recording an event with Primetime is exactly the same as recording an event through Sky,” answered Taylor.
“To record an event you have to be a previously registered Primetime customer and have a box that is set up to an active phone line. If you order by the phone or by the Internet it sends a direct signal to the box because if we send another type of signal it can take up to twenty-four hours to reach the box. A lot of people were booking on the day of the event so what we’ve done is sent a direct signal that is immediate but unfortunately blocks the recording.
“To try to combat that situation we’ve taken steps regarding our repeat times. We had a lot of feedback from customers from the Internet and now have an additional repeat showing at seven in the evening (on Sunday) which will be more accessible.”
Problems with recording the fight forced people to dial the number advertised on the Primetime promos. One or two have complained that their calls were terminated prior to getting through to an advisor or that they were advised to contact Sky TV’s customer service line.
“For an event of this larger scale we are using some outsourcing and not just our own call centre so what I will do is get onto them to make sure they’ve got all the correct information and are not directing people to Sky when they shouldn’t be. That shouldn’t be happening and I will deal with that immediately,” insisted Andrew when these complaints were put to him.
One of the biggest gripes is the quality of the broadcasts. Jim Rosenthal led the Amir Khan versus Paul McCloskey and Judah telecasts and is a safe pair of hands. However, and especially at £14.95 a go, fans expect HD TV where possible, with some Internet forum members criticizing the lack of a crystal clear picture on Primetime. A problem that Taylor believes will be cleared up during 2012 as the station intends to make a long-term commitment to the sport.
“It is something we are looking into but it is likely to be next year before we have an HD channel. That sort of thing doesn’t happen overnight. But we are staying in boxing. We are hoping to have an announcement about our next boxing event in a couple of days time,” he admitted.
“Primetime are definitely looking to move into boxing on a regular basis”, Andrew’s response to the question of whether Channel 5 and Primetime will work in tandem in the future. “With regards to Channel 5 I think a lot depends on what happens on Saturday [when the station carried Derek Chisora’s British and Commonwealth title decision defeat to Tyson Fury]. If they do the right sort of numbers [Writer’s note: They are believed to be aiming for 1 million viewers] then they will look to get a bit more involved. I can’t really comment further.”
PPV failed to work in football as people have historically expected to view the big games via their Sky Sports subscriptions; the football fan base is also too big for Sky to mess with, hence their attempts to introduce a PPV ‘Season Ticket’ ended in dismal failure and a return to regular scheduling. Boxing, however, is a different matter, fans of the ‘Sweet Science’ have traditionally dug deep when CCTV and PPV come calling, with many paying for bills that, by rights, should have been on normal Sky. True to form, the punters came out in support of this latest PPV transmission.
“Absolutely brilliant,” said Taylor when asked about the response to Primetime’s boxing output. “We were really impressed with the last broadcast [Khan-McCloskey]. Obviously it was put together on a few days notice, it wasn’t perfect but we learned from last time and this one was a big improvement. Things are looking really good. We are in talks with Golden Boy – it is a positive relationship and they fully support what we are doing.
“With rumors going around that Sky may not be back into the PPV market until 2013 then it could be a very big chance for us. After the last Khan fight we spoke to a lot of promoters and received a lot of interest so I hope that there will be a big future.
“I think the problems are down to things going so well more than anything, even more so than last time. We pay a lot of attention to the forums and we try to give as much technical information as possible to people. Any emails that come in are given an email or phone call back within ten minutes where possible so it is going positively today and a lot more people seem to be getting involved so it is looking good.”
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