HBO Vs SHOtime Who's Winning?

[Mike D]

Only thing that matters is ratings. That's it. Showtime has made dramatic strides to be a real player in the sport -- as opposed to the utter joke they used to be, but at the end of the day the bottom line is still ratings. And fact: HBO is still beating them in that department definitively. Now whether or not you want to argue that HBO is leading purely because they have a f**k load of more overall subscribers -- is another thing entirely.

But yeah. Ratings. Look em' up. HBO is winning. Showtime is losing. Simple.

[Biolink]

HBO thus far. Showtime should get better as the year goes on.

[al-Xander]

Despite the fact that they have this so-called "stacked stable," Showtime only managed to produce a few fights since the Mayweather/Canelo fight. They weren't able to answer HBO's weekly fights at the end of last year.

Even now most of Schaefer/Haymon fighters have been inactive. When was the last time you saw these guys fight? Guerrero, Khan, Matthysse, Berto, and many others. They have almost 90 fighters in their stable, yet you hardly see them fight, or still don't have any schedule set for them. Just shows that they're not really profiting from these expensive Mayweather fights.

So people need to stop this "Showtime is winning" BS. If you are a subscriber, you'll feel the extreme rarity of fights.

[Rome-By-Ko]

HBO,better ratings..Not to mention back to back FOTY honors..

[Kagami Taiga]

Well the problem with this question is it depends on what u are asking. HBO will have vetter ratings than Showtime for the near future but that has little to do with boxing. If we are talking purely boxing, Showtime has made tremendous strides and they are no longer the underdog they used to be. As far as their talent pool they have one up on HBO. Ratings wise HBO is abd will continue to be the premium subscription network king.

[Team-Brickhouse]

Showtime By Far

[al-Xander]

It's not only about ratings. Most important is the frequency of fights. HBO is winning on ratings. They're also winning in being able to produce more non-PPV fights for their subscribers, despite the fact that Schaefer/Haymon took all their fighters with them.

These huge Mayweather PPV parties have a way of screwing up the record. And what do you expect? You give the same amount of gargantuan spending to Fox Sports they'll do even bigger PPV parties and make handsome profit. Showtime is getting crumbs from these expensive Mayweather parties.

[Mr. Philadel]

SHO kicking ass....HBO sucks ass!!....that's how I see it

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

HBO has many more subscribers and is the big players in the boxing game. It's the reason that when GB decided to go with Showtime, it was regarded as a bad decision.

For me Showtime has been on the come up, and HBO is losing ground if they don't start making some better fights. Losing Stevenson really hurt the big fight vs Kovalev.

I just wish they would all do business with each other like in the old days so we the fan could see the best fights.

[WilkinsOlajuwon]

The argument that HBO has more total subs is why they have more ratings...isnt exactly how to compare the two. More subs doesnt necessarily mean there are more boxing viewers. Its a factor but not the final indicator. Its being used as an excuse by showtime "fans"

The only real way to see who is "winning"--which is really really gay to talk about--is to look at the %change in ratings over time. If HBO's ratings are down in the last 1-2 years and SHO is up, then you can say SHO is "winning."

In the end this debate is lame.