Showtime is dead

[shade darkar]

It's free TV.

ah right, cheers. i suppose that is good for the fans then if its free to air tv. but that has me wondering, why would they do that when id imagine they'd make more money on showtime or hbo?

[Beater_of_ass]

ah right, cheers. i suppose that is good for the fans then if its free to air tv. but that has me wondering, why would they do that when id imagine they'd make more money on showtime or hbo?

HBO and Showtime are in about 50 million homes. A lot of those people have Showtime and HBO though so it's probably closer to 40 million or something like that. You have to pay like $10 or $20 a month on your cable bill to do that. Well, there are like 300-400 million people in the US and really you're only hitting 10-25% of that audience being on HBO or Showtime.

This essentially puts boxing in the US back on what the NFL and NBA are on. Two vastly more popular sports because they are much easier to access, boxing just jumped into that area of exposure. Less money now with a lot more exposure in the future, it really is a good move for boxing if it stays with strong match ups.

[The Gambler1981]

They probably will do anything because they lost all their numbers guys.
DSG gone
Broner Gone
Hopkins Gone
Thurman Gone

Those are the guys that came close to a million last year and DSG the only one to get it at peak.

They need fights because they have one major card set up while everywhere else has multiple cards set up.

WTF up is after Wilder/Stiverene? Nobody knows because all those fighters are gone.

But like somebody brought up before. Vanes/Trout seems to be happening... so that could happen on Showtime with Haymon fighters on the undercard

Yea Showtime was Schaeffer's plan when he was gone that was the end of that plan really, partly because the architect was gone and because the situation totally changed.

It will be interesting to see what Haymon and Showtime do, for the next year I think they are working together fairly well. You could look at the falling out with HBO but a lot of that has to do with the arrogance of HBO. Showtime might throw a fit if they lose Floyd like HBO did but considering their history of generally being the second banana they might be able to take a working relationship with another network better, and could HBO keep up with NBC and CBS if they teamed up on boxing. To me that is the smart play, destroy the operation that will not work with you while propping up those that will.

I have wanted to see what it would be like with 3 main players as opposed to 2 but that was mainly for promotional purposes, but another big TV act would create a lot of movement in the sport as well.

[SUBZER0ED]

ah right, cheers. i suppose that is good for the fans then if its free to air tv. but that has me wondering, why would they do that when id imagine they'd make more money on showtime or hbo?

HBO and Showtime are in about 50 million homes. A lot of those people have Showtime and HBO though so it's probably closer to 40 million or something like that. You have to pay like $10 or $20 a month on your cable bill to do that. Well, there are like 300-400 million people in the US and really you're only hitting 10-25% of that audience being on HBO or Showtime.

This essentially puts boxing in the US back on what the NFL and NBA are on. Two vastly more popular sports because they are much easier to access, boxing just jumped into that area of exposure. Less money now with a lot more exposure in the future, it really is a good move for boxing if it stays with strong match ups.

I think what shade darkar is getting at, is the big money is in PPV. In the old days when boxing was big on free network tv, they used to air some of the big fights on closed circuit tv for a fee. That ******, because people had to go to where they were showing the fight and watch a low quality picture. With today's technology and PPV, fans can enjoy fights at home on their wide screen tvs. So with Haymon bringing fights back to network tv and having to put up $20 million of his own money, where is his return on investment?
Will he still do PPVs on Showtime and HBO? NBC doesn't own a premium channel, so it can't do PPV, unless it is in the form of lame CCTV.

[Beater_of_ass]

I think what shade darkar is getting at, is the big money is in PPV. In the old days when boxing was big on free network tv, they used to air some of the big fights on closed circuit tv for a fee. That ******, because people had to go to where they were showing the fight and watch a low quality picture. With today's technology and PPV, fans can enjoy fights at home on their wide screen tvs. So with Haymon bringing fights back to network tv and having to put up $20 million of his own money, where is his return on investment?
Will he still do PPVs on Showtime and HBO? NBC doesn't own a premium channel, so it can't do PPV, unless it is in the form of lame CCTV.

NBC can easily do a PPV, all they have to do is the same production as a normal broadcast and just send the signal to a PPV channel instead of NBC. It's really not that hard to do, as stated it literally is just where the feed comes into.

There is nothing different with this deal except it being on NBC. These are fights that should have been on Showtime and that's what NBC is now. When there is a big fight they will simply put it on PPV and it will get even more buys because that many people are watching it on PPV. This really could be the future of all sport sadly, normal season and playoffs will be on free TV and you'll have to PPV conference finals and the super bowl.

[Ham Porter]

Showtime will get whatever Big Gay Al has left over. He has a ****load of dates to fill for the rest of the year and the very best, most significant matchups will all be going to NBC.

[Eastcoast]

I think what shade darkar is getting at, is the big money is in PPV. In the old days when boxing was big on free network tv, they used to air some of the big fights on closed circuit tv for a fee. That ******, because people had to go to where they were showing the fight and watch a low quality picture. With today's technology and PPV, fans can enjoy fights at home on their wide screen tvs. So with Haymon bringing fights back to network tv and having to put up $20 million of his own money, where is his return on investment?
Will he still do PPVs on Showtime and HBO? NBC doesn't own a premium channel, so it can't do PPV, unless it is in the form of lame CCTV.

Haymon's PBC will be operating at a profit loss for the next two years and being funded mostly through the investors. The idea is to build a following as a main stream sports league, which will then create revenue through sponsorships & possibly subscriptions assuming 'cord-cutting' starts to take off by then. Best case scenario they want to become like the NFL,NBA,MLB which make billions while being on free(ish) cable - (the channels bid for the rights to air and then sell the advertising). If cord-cutting happens sooner than later, that scenario could still take place or Haymon goes the UFC route.

Boxing has been hurt by being on HBO/Showtime all these years. It's been lucratively supported in small niches and failed to develop large new fan bases. Promoters have found ways to skim off revenue without always developing an attraction. I hope Haymon's vision ultimately works, but then again over the past 15 years he's been part of the problem.

[lazy]

Showtime offers air time and big money, I am sure they will be fine.

[SUBZER0ED]

Haymon's PBC will be operating at a profit loss for the next two years and being funded mostly through the investors. The idea is to build a following as a main stream sports league, which will then create revenue through sponsorships & possibly subscriptions assuming 'cord-cutting' starts to take off by then. Best case scenario they want to become like the NFL,NBA,MLB which make billions while being on free(ish) cable - (the channels bid for the rights to air and then sell the advertising). If cord-cutting happens sooner than later, that scenario could still take place or Haymon goes the UFC route.

Boxing has been hurt by being on HBO/Showtime all these years. It's been lucratively supported in small niches and failed to develop large new fan bases. Promoters have found ways to skim off revenue without always developing an attraction. I hope Haymon's vision ultimately works, but then again over the past 15 years he's been part of the problem.

Exactly! Haymon and company have been force-feeding us lackluster matchups for so long, fans have been ponying up PPV dollars for junk fights and convincing themselves that it's worth it. Now all of a sudden, he has this "vision" of signing a majority of fighters and giving us great fights on NBC? Why didn't he just do that in the first place when he was with HBO and Showtime? Did they tie his hands? HBO's Jim Lampley directly accused Haymon of signing many fighters and then not having the best fight the best. I think Haymon has a passion for money, not boxing. It's just a means to get paid without necessarily delivering the best product.

[SUBZER0ED]

NBC can easily do a PPV, all they have to do is the same production as a normal broadcast and just send the signal to a PPV channel instead of NBC. It's really not that hard to do, as stated it literally is just where the feed comes into.

There is nothing different with this deal except it being on NBC. These are fights that should have been on Showtime and that's what NBC is now. When there is a big fight they will simply put it on PPV and it will get even more buys because that many people are watching it on PPV. This really could be the future of all sport sadly, normal season and playoffs will be on free TV and you'll have to PPV conference finals and the super bowl.

Man, I sure hope you're wrong about that.