... HBO Boxing

[Scipio2009]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-advanced-talks-buy-time-151207933.html

After allegedly spending so much money "defending itself" from the bid from 21st Century Fox, TimeWarner (parent of HBO) is still on the verge of getting swallowed up, this time by AT&T.

budget going up? I doubt it

[Nay_Sayer]

This might be a good thing for HBO - and by extension HBO boxing - as it may mean that HBO's subscription base will broaden..

[The Big Dunn]

Interesting. If the budget doesn't go up thats bad for us as fans. As critical as I have been for HBO in the last year and a half, I don't want them out I want them to improve their programming and get back to the days when an HBO deal expanded who you could fight.

[Motorcity Cobra]

People who think this will cause HBO to invest more money into boxing are sadly mistaken. Boxing is such a niche sport nobody is investing money into it except Haymon. He's the only one who believes in the sport and he's hated!

He saw this coming years ago that's why he started PBC. He has over 200 fighters and he had to find somewhere for Them

[Scipio2009]

This might be a good thing for HBO - and by extension HBO boxing - as it may mean that HBO's subscription base will broaden..

If folks are tuning in for Game of Thrones, Westworld, Bill Maher, John Oliver, etc, why not invest the $20m-$30m in developing another 1-2 original programs rather than continue to half-ass boxing?

It's been years since HBO showed any real commitment to trying to develop their boxing programming, and I don't think a broadening base changes that.

[Motorcity Cobra]

And time Warner cable has been bought out by Charter cable in a lot of areas

[Scipio2009]

an interesting read indeed.

http://www.businessinsider.com/att-thinks-directv-now-is-the-future-of-tv-2016-10

On the ignore list in the other thread, so putting this here.

The one point that I will make is that it's yet unclear if sports has the effect on streaming as it does with live viewership (which is why live sports are still advertising king on traditional TV, though it's unclear if that is the case in streaming).

In a similar fashion to Netflix, if the deal goes through, AT&T would now have a platform to go and pitch shows, like Game of Thrones, to folks no longer tied to cable TV packages.

How many folks, no longer tied to traditional TV, even care for boxing at this point? PBC is facing all sorts of viability questions with the move to regular TV; imagine what that'd look like if he tried to reach folks who were off tv completely.