Terrestrial TV – a cold house for professional boxing

[slapbangwhallop]

The main question is why? And how can boxing make it work on free TV?

Answers I can come up as to why TV aint interested are as follows –

1. Hard to budget for a year in advance as there is no fixture list

2. Unreliable when dates are set – pull outs, injuries etc

3. Expensive production costs – I’m not sure why it’s more expensive than other indoor sports but this is always quoted as a reason by production teams so I have to take them at face value.

4. Non-PC – doesn’t fit in with a middle class liberal media agenda which thinks the only thing us “scummers” want its showbiz news and Big Brother and combat sports are a bit raw and unscrupulous and they would rather air athletics and gymnastics etc.

5. Advertising – boxing whilst reportedly drawing “decent figures” it doesn’t attract good advertising revenues, whereas say golf has for example a similar viewership but is followed by an ABC1 type viewer and boxing audience demographic is a little more EDL.

Now those are just off the top of my head and I may have left things out or not thought my points through fully but they above are pretty plausible. Are there anymore?

Buncey and Costello were having an intelligent debate about this subject on Five Live yesterday and trying to rationalise the reasoning behind it and did mention some of the above reasons but never really touched on what boxing could change to make it more attractive for free TV because we are no in a position where smaller promoters are giving away the rights for free and in some cases paying for their shows to be aired.

I think this is one of those that will either a big topic of discussion or will slip away without a single reply! haha

[earsjohn]

6 - from a BBC perspective and with reference to the spending of public money, I think one of the biggest problems is the transparency over how the cash that is provided for a promoter is filtered down, not just to the boxer but to the grass roots boxing game in general. It doesn't look good if the Beeb spunk a big wedge on a promoter who doesn't show any commitment to the public interest angle, is rumoured to not pass on payment to fighters or takes the money, dissolves the company and sets up business elsewhere.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

6 - from a BBC perspective and with reference to the spending of public money, I think one of the biggest problems is the transparency over how the cash that is provided for a promoter is filtered down, not just to the boxer but to the grass roots boxing game in general. It doesn't look good if the Beeb spunk a big wedge on a promoter who doesn't show any commitment to the public interest angle, is rumoured to not pass on payment to fighters or takes the money, dissolves the company and sets up business elsewhere.

Are you really suggesting that is a reason boxing isn't being broadcast on Terrestrial TV?