Comments Thread For: Hearn Agrees With Arum on Showtime Leaving Boxing like HBO

[R_Walken]

Maybe, but 5 years ago I don't think many thought HBO would have thrown in the towel after their long history of high profile fights.

Maybe not 5 years ago

But the writing been on the wall for years as far as HBO demise is concerned

They let Mayweather walk across the street and missed out on 3 record breaking PPVs
They stopped doing business with Haymon who had the largest stable of fighters in the sport
Once the PBC was formed they got leapfrogged as the #1 boxing provider in a matter of months
Once TOp Rank aligned with ESpn they became the 3rd place platform

And all in this time 90% of the decent matchups on HBO were on PPV and increasingly the rest of the fights were sh.it

It was inevitable they’d be closing down shop

To say Showtime will Leave boxing soon seems a little far ferhched , In the last couple years they’ve put on the best fights , produced the biggest PPVs , have alingned themselves with the biggest stable in the sport and have access to probably 90% of the top end American fighters

Besides hopes and prayers from Arum / Hearn What indicates that Showtime plan on leaving the sport

[Eff Pandas]

Nah it was clear even 5 years ago HBO was moving away from boxing.

Absolutely. The writing was on the wall for anyone looking at the wall for HBO Boxing. HBO honestly was trending down for a full two decades basically & they were in the game 45 years so half their run it was obvious HBO wasn't putting the same love into boxing they were in HBO Boxing's prime (the late 80's & 90's).

[SchoolTheseCats]

Maybe, but 5 years ago I don't think many thought HBO would have thrown in the towel after their long history of high profile fights.

Hbo been scaling back fights for years so wasn’t a big surprise the exited..... showtime on other wont exit boxing they already show fights on app and stream on they Facebook page and been doing that for years now before dazn something hbo never done

[Adamsc151]

Nah it was clear even 5 years ago HBO was moving away from boxing.

Really? Mind you we don't see the ins and outs of US TV network business over here in the UK, we just remember the big nights they've put on over the years that were re-televised over here.
It just seems a shame to throw away a heritage of Lewis, Tyson, RJJ, DLH and Mayweather to name but a few - to concentrate on movies or TV shows that most will stream online anyway. Not sure what things are like in the US, but it's far easier to get a free stream of a movie/TV show than live sports in the UK. Live sports are pretty much locked out of free streams over here.

[Butch.McRae]

Or instead of getting out of Boxing they simply follow the trend and create a new streaming app of there own! With an already stacked roaster they would still be the big dog on the block!

Just so you know Showtime/CBS already has an app that has 8M subscribers (by January 2019) with an expected 16M by 2022.

It's the fastest growing app in its category right now.

They won't be leaving boxing anytime soon lol

[RL_GMA]

I don't think they'll be "fully" gone but I feel FOX is going make a major push these PBC guys need and if they begin rolling out PPV / Streaming app, how can Showtime really compete? I assume they'll still get the lower tier fights but if FOX has the same amount of money budget wise with over 100,000,000 viewers potentially, how is this NOT a no brainer?

[RL_GMA]

Just so you know Showtime/CBS already has an app that has 8M subscribers (by January 2019) with an expected 16M by 2022.

It's the fastest growing app in its category right now.

They won't be leaving boxing anytime soon lol

They won't be totally gone from Boxing but the PBC fighters overall needed a power house Network to put them on a bigger platform which is where FOX comes in. I'm not 100% sure how much of their ratings comes from the Showtime app but it seems like Al wants to use FOX for the bigger named fighters on the stable while keeping Showtime around for the Gary Russell vs Leo Santa Cruz type fights. Guys like Spence and Jermall need to be on FOX.

[richardt]

ShoBox is still one of the best avenues for prospects, contenders, and future champs to emerge. They need to stay in the game. Some of us would actually like to watch some fights directly on our TV without have to output the streamed content on our laptops from HDMI to the TV.

[JLC]

Awesome now boxing is completely off of television ... is that what we really want?

A: Showtime already has this streaming platform. It is how I subscribe to showtime and watch their fights and other content. Admittedly the only other thing I watch on showtime is Homeland.

B: the future of tv is streaming. Forget boxing being off of television. Television is going to be off of television. Lol. Streaming is much cheaper, and more scaleable for the end user. Also people think streaming means you are limited to watching it on your phone, laptop, or tablet, when in actuality devices like Apple TVs, Fire TVs, And Rokus are what a lot of people are watching this on. Of course I don’t watch my Fights on a tablet when I have flat screen TVs plastered all over my house. I use a fire stick or Roku and watch it on my screens.

Cable subscription is gone in my house. We still have hbo showtime (and now DAZN) and all the regular channels for the wife and kids, and for less than half of what we paid for cable.

If you haven’t heard of Philo, Hulu, Slingtv, or any of the other streaming services that are cable replacements out there get w the program because that’s where everything is going in the next few years. If you still have cable your probably spending too much bread.

[R01]

Showtime roster stacked like pancakes. Wishful thinking by the DAZN folks.