ITV NOT OUT OF BOXING ITS JUST GOING PPV!!!!!!

[Autobarn]

yeah, satellite, cable, PPV, reduced the core audience and increased the financial demands of fighters also. this latter has made some real difficulties. now a champ like tomasz adamek has to fight a bobby gunn if he can't land a showtime date, for example. one of the ultimate warriors in the ultimate mismatch. without a lewis or tyson or holyfield the sport seems a bit lost. obviously those were events and ppl forked out however much it was back then, to see the biggest fights. you'd watch the fighters who were fortunate enough to be on the undercard (the likes of julian jackson, terry norris), you'd watch the UK PPV leg, you'd follow those fighters too.

i think we've seen some dreadul moves by the TV companies - "allegedly sports network" slipping away from setanta, sky sports hall mismatches, ITV putting khon and cashzaghe in mostly dreck...tv it seems have allowed promoters to put on bilge which turns off viewers. anyway i think this super middle round robin is the way back. i think the viewers will take to the fighters in the 24/7 show and hopefully enough will buy it over here to have made ITV's investment worthwhile. perhaps this show will make a change, that to get the good money you have to be in some serious competitive action.

if it wasn't on ITV PPV it's have been on Sky PPV. i'd really rather not pay any more ££ to Sky. I don't need some muppet trying to tell me the crap i've just seen is something worthwhile, with a glazed expression on his face akin to that of a shop dummy, in glorious close-up.

[whiteboy]

Is there actually anything more to this than Hennessy saying he's 'pitched' the idea to ITV or what?

[lefthook82]

when its all said and done we are all gonna pay for it

this tournament is 'fantasy football' like and you wanna complain about a little change that we have to fork out....

[Autobarn]

Is there actually anything more to this than Hennessy saying he's 'pitched' the idea to ITV or what?

i thought sauerland or his nephew/daughter in law/whatever had pitched it to showtime

[exittored]

yeah, satellite, cable, PPV, reduced the core audience and increased the financial demands of fighters also. this latter has made some real difficulties. now a champ like tomasz adamek has to fight a bobby gunn if he can't land a showtime date, for example. one of the ultimate warriors in the ultimate mismatch. without a lewis or tyson or holyfield the sport seems a bit lost. obviously those were events and ppl forked out however much it was back then, to see the biggest fights. you'd watch the fighters who were fortunate enough to be on the undercard (the likes of julian jackson, terry norris), you'd watch the UK PPV leg, you'd follow those fighters too.

i think we've seen some dreadul moves by the TV companies - "allegedly sports network" slipping away from setanta, sky sports hall mismatches, ITV putting khon and cashzaghe in mostly dreck...tv it seems have allowed promoters to put on bilge which turns off viewers. anyway i think this super middle round robin is the way back. i think the viewers will take to the fighters in the 24/7 show and hopefully enough will buy it over here to have made ITV's investment worthwhile. perhaps this show will make a change, that to get the good money you have to be in some serious competitive action.

if it wasn't on ITV PPV it's have been on Sky PPV. i'd really rather not pay any more ££ to Sky. I don't need some muppet trying to tell me the crap i've just seen is something worthwhile, with a glazed expression on his face akin to that of a shop dummy, in glorious close-up.

Good Post...

I'm not sure why people are complaining...

If this means ITV4 Continues to show British Domestic Fights and than show's the Big Fights PPV than i'm all for that plus i dont have Sky and refuse to have it so all i have to do is Pay a one off fee to ITV PPV rather than having to Pay for a SKY basic Package and than be able to use their PPV Service.

£15 for Froch vs Dirrell and Abraham vs Taylor is good Value for Money and all power to ITV if they do this. Everyone will soon have to have a Digital Freeview Box so these Fights can really have a good Domestic Audience.

[Dioufy]

it's actually be worth £15 if they really are doing a dual broadcast of the froch and abraham fights. just don't pay for shite sports channels and kon ppvs. use the leftover money to buy real fights. this is not run-of-the-mill boxing

I'm sorry. but no fight at all is worth an extra £15 to watch on television. Put aside a TV license, electricity bills, Sky Sports, Setanta/ESPN and it's a joke. I will never buy another PPV again. Free cable/free streams are the way forward.

no they are not. boxing is reliant upon TV money, and particularly PPV money. you think internet PPV is the way forward? sit hunched over a computer at night time with a cup of coffee next to you

It's the way forward for me. Just plug my laptop into my widescreen and it's a good 'un. I am not paying £15 for a bill.

[alexpaterson]

Good news at least they are staying with the boxing would be better if they had it on normal TV though

[Spud]

ITV are a bunch of cheeky ****s!!!

[whiteboy]

Is there actually anything more to this than Hennessy saying he's 'pitched' the idea to ITV or what?

i thought sauerland or his nephew/daughter in law/whatever had pitched it to showtime

yeah, but what's that got to do with an ITV PPV channel?

[earsjohn]

technology - i.e. digital Tv - has pointed the way to PPV and terrestrial channels can't/won't fork out the big money to put the big fights together. it's just how it is.

Totally disagree. Football tried it and it died on its arse. No other sport goes near PPV and the argument that Boxing has big events rather than seasons or championships is irrelevant - every sport has their blue riband events. Boxing and, judging by the acceptance on this forum, boxing fans accept PPV as a way of life. The only reason its used is to allow promoters to take more money from the sport, rather than being creative to generate interest and forcing TV companies to buy their "product".

I'm less unhappy about the really big fights being PPV, but now we're getting the situation that every UK fighter that reaches world title level is automatically a PPV fighter. The only feasible consequence of this will be to reduce the numbers of casual fans (and to boost the numbers watching online, for free - I know thats exactly what I'll be doing this weekend).

[Autobarn]

technology - i.e. digital Tv - has pointed the way to PPV and terrestrial channels can't/won't fork out the big money to put the big fights together. it's just how it is.

Totally disagree. Football tried it and it died on its arse. No other sport goes near PPV and the argument that Boxing has big events rather than seasons or championships is irrelevant - every sport has their blue riband events. Boxing and, judging by the acceptance on this forum, boxing fans accept PPV as a way of life. The only reason its used is to allow promoters to take more money from the sport, rather than being creative to generate interest and forcing TV companies to buy their "product".

I'm less unhappy about the really big fights being PPV, but now we're getting the situation that every UK fighter that reaches world title level is automatically a PPV fighter. The only feasible consequence of this will be to reduce the numbers of casual fans (and to boost the numbers watching online, for free - I know thats exactly what I'll be doing this weekend).

i diagree with your disagreement. there is no going back and everyone with a title wants the HBO or the Showtime money. I don't just mean Sky, Setanta, ITV PPV, I mean the big Yank channels who make the biggest, most meaningful fights possible.

perhaps because of this fighters are expecting far too much money to get into a good fight. for instance jermain taylor was getting what, $3 or 4m for ouma and spinks, so he got difficult when it came to fighting the likes of pavlik and froch, physically daunting bigger men...i wonder how much it cost to get kessler to leave denmark - a king's ransom i'll bet - for calzaghe. given the poor US ratings, and given how reliant on US TV money they were, it's not a stretch to say they were paid more than they are worth. i agree it's a problem. it used to be simple - the best at the weight HAD to fight each other to make the biggest payday, from leonard-hearns to spinks-qawi.

this is why i prefer the lower weights, and fighters like vazquez, rafael marquez, darchinyan. they have to kick the asses of their peers otherwise they don't get the premium TV exposure and the money that goes with it. and they aren't getting paid THAT well as they usually go straight into another hard fight in the next bout.

[Autobarn]

Is there actually anything more to this than Hennessy saying he's 'pitched' the idea to ITV or what?

i thought sauerland or his nephew/daughter in law/whatever had pitched it to showtime

yeah, but what's that got to do with an ITV PPV channel?

to get money out of UK fans...?