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By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Don King is in the planning stages of creating a television boxing network that would feature live fights, martial arts matches, tapes of historic bouts and hip hop music acts, the longtime promoter said.
Largely spurred by his dissatisfaction with HBO's handling of boxing, King said he intends to speak to media giants Charles and James Dolan of Cablevision, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. and owners of Comcast Cable about joining him in the venture.
King has long feuded with HBO, particularly boxing analyst Larry Merchant. King criticized HBO on Oct. 2 after Felix Trinidad's eighth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden, claiming the cable network had failed to properly help promote the bout.
King also said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg didn't keep a promise to promote King's Nov. 13 pay-per-view card during the Trinidad-Mayorga broadcast. King said he flew the Nov. 13 participants to New York at his expense to have them appear on the broadcast, but they weren't shown.
While King says he will honor his existing contracts with HBO, he's shopping for a new broadcast partner. A better solution, he said, would be to create his network in the mold of The Golf Channel.
"That's really the only way to go, because we can do it the way it should be done," King said. "You don't have to worry about someone sabotaging you or putting a knife in your back when you do it yourself.
"I'm going to go talk to these (media moguls) because I think we can get it done. This is something I've thought about and wanted to do for a long time."
Greenburg couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.
King said Trinidad has one fight remaining on his HBO contract, then the promoter will begin shopping Trinidad to other networks.
Creating a boxing channel won't be easy, King concedes. He acknowledges the difficulty in getting mass clearance on cable systems around the country, as the recently launched The Tennis Channel is experiencing. It is available to about 30 percent of the country's cable subscribers.
But if King can reach a deal with Murdoch, the primary shareholder in DirecTV, his venture will gain instant credibility.
"This isn't a dream; it's going to happen," King said. "I'm not going to be an indentured servant anymore."
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Don King is in the planning stages of creating a television boxing network that would feature live fights, martial arts matches, tapes of historic bouts and hip hop music acts, the longtime promoter said.
Largely spurred by his dissatisfaction with HBO's handling of boxing, King said he intends to speak to media giants Charles and James Dolan of Cablevision, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. and owners of Comcast Cable about joining him in the venture.
King has long feuded with HBO, particularly boxing analyst Larry Merchant. King criticized HBO on Oct. 2 after Felix Trinidad's eighth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden, claiming the cable network had failed to properly help promote the bout.
King also said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg didn't keep a promise to promote King's Nov. 13 pay-per-view card during the Trinidad-Mayorga broadcast. King said he flew the Nov. 13 participants to New York at his expense to have them appear on the broadcast, but they weren't shown.
While King says he will honor his existing contracts with HBO, he's shopping for a new broadcast partner. A better solution, he said, would be to create his network in the mold of The Golf Channel.
"That's really the only way to go, because we can do it the way it should be done," King said. "You don't have to worry about someone sabotaging you or putting a knife in your back when you do it yourself.
"I'm going to go talk to these (media moguls) because I think we can get it done. This is something I've thought about and wanted to do for a long time."
Greenburg couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.
King said Trinidad has one fight remaining on his HBO contract, then the promoter will begin shopping Trinidad to other networks.
Creating a boxing channel won't be easy, King concedes. He acknowledges the difficulty in getting mass clearance on cable systems around the country, as the recently launched The Tennis Channel is experiencing. It is available to about 30 percent of the country's cable subscribers.
But if King can reach a deal with Murdoch, the primary shareholder in DirecTV, his venture will gain instant credibility.
"This isn't a dream; it's going to happen," King said. "I'm not going to be an indentured servant anymore."
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