Pacman Vs. Bradley III on Premier Sports

[chad]

In a bit of a shock move niche sports broadcaster Premier Sports have picked up the UK TV rights for Pacman Vs. Bradley III.

http://www.premiersports.tv/other/mma/

This is an interesting development. Premier Sports was formed by Michael O'Rourke back in 2009 following the collapse of Setanta Sports in the UK. For a period of about 12 months they regularly broadcast fights from the States and signed an exclusive broadcast deal with Gary Shaw / Showbox. They also broadcast some domestic action including Carl Framptons debut and a Mick Hennessy show from Wembley. This all ground to a hault when B0xnati0n launched. Now it might be time for B0xnati0n to be concerned.

In December Michael O'Rourke sold Setanta Sports Ireland to Eir in a deal worth £15.5 million. As part of the deal he agreed to stay on for a few months whilst the takeover was implemented. My understanding is this period has now ended and his main focus now is Premier Sports. He's went on a bit of a spending spree this week and secured the UK TV rights for the following events:

Pacman Vs. Bradley III
Czech Republic vs. Scotland
Rep. of Ireland v Switzerland
Rep. of Ireland v Slovakia
Rep. of Ireland v Netherlands
Italy vs. Scotland
France vs. Scotland
Sweden vs. Wales

It's long been know that B0xnati0n have had an exclusive deal with Top Rank for UK broadcast rights. How Premier Sports have secured the fight has not yet been disclosed. Maybe B0xnati0n couldn't afford Arums asking price? Maybe B0xnati0n didn't want to go head to head with SKY who are showing Joshua Vs. Martin on PPV the same night? Whatever has happened Bob Arum has seen the green and knows there's another broadcaster in town to bid for his rights.

Clearly O'Rourke is trying to make some noise and has money to burn. He's happily invested in boxing in the past. It's one of only a few sports in the UK where the broadcast rights haven't been tied down long term like football or rugby. He's currently in a position to outbid B0xnati0n for broadcast rights, especially with B0xnati0n having a reputation of bidding late to snap rights up on the cheap. I would not be shocked if Premier Sports became the UK home of Premier Boxing Champions and give B0xnati0n the odd black eye and fat lip.

[JimJim2009]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

[Boxerbeetle]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

No it's another subscription channel. Bad news for boxing fans this.

[Stuarty]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

I thought it was PPV. I'm sure I've ordered a couple of fights from it a few years ago. Maybe it changed now. Whatever way you look at it, in the short term it's just another expense for fans of boxing!

[JimJim2009]

I'd rather see BN spend the same money on several shows than pile it all into this one. Not really interested in it, I'll find a way to watch it but I think it's just a money spinner for all involved.

[chad]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

I thought it was PPV. I'm sure I've ordered a couple of fights from it a few years ago. Maybe it changed now. Whatever way you look at it, in the short term it's just another expense for fans of boxing!

I think you're maybe thinking of Primetime. They popped up for a few years showing fights from the Super 6 tournament, some Mayweather and Pacman fights plus Ricky Hattons return. They went down the pan 2 years ago.

Here's the link to Premier Sports website:

http://www.premiersports.tv/

£9.99 per month for Virgin Media and Talktalk customers but it's a joke if you have SKY. SKY customers pay £11.99 per month for SD or £12.99 per month for HD with a 2 month minimum subscription plus a £7 connection fee. So if you have SKY it's going to cost you £32.98 to watch the fight in HD. That is absurd.

[Larrylefthook]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

I thought it was PPV. I'm sure I've ordered a couple of fights from it a few years ago. Maybe it changed now. Whatever way you look at it, in the short term it's just another expense for fans of boxing!

I think you're maybe thinking of Primetime. They popped up for a few years showing fights from the Super 6 tournament, some Mayweather and Pacman fights plus Ricky Hattons return. They went down the pan 2 years ago.

Here's the link to Premier Sports website:

http://www.premiersports.tv/

£9.99 per month for Virgin Media and Talktalk customers but it's a joke if you have SKY. SKY customers pay £11.99 per month for SD or £12.99 per month for HD with a 2 month minimum subscription plus a £7 connection fee. So if you have SKY it's going to cost you £32.98 to watch the fight in HD. That is absurd.

Thanks for all your information you always have great knowledge when it comes to this stuff . Yeh £32.98 to watch this fight is silly and I cant see many boxing fans subscribing for this, its not getting much press this fight as no one is interested in it so maybe they should have done a free weekend view to see how many would watch.

[Stuarty]

How do you watch this channel ? Does it come with the full sky package ?

I thought it was PPV. I'm sure I've ordered a couple of fights from it a few years ago. Maybe it changed now. Whatever way you look at it, in the short term it's just another expense for fans of boxing!

I think you're maybe thinking of Primetime. They popped up for a few years showing fights from the Super 6 tournament, some Mayweather and Pacman fights plus Ricky Hattons return. They went down the pan 2 years ago.

Here's the link to Premier Sports website:

http://www.premiersports.tv/

£9.99 per month for Virgin Media and Talktalk customers but it's a joke if you have SKY. SKY customers pay £11.99 per month for SD or £12.99 per month for HD with a 2 month minimum subscription plus a £7 connection fee. So if you have SKY it's going to cost you £32.98 to watch the fight in HD. That is absurd.

Ahh you're correct sir. That's exactly what I was thinking of Think I'll wait to see what else they'll be showing before I decide to add it to my subscription. I'll just catch the Pac fight online the next day hopefully.

[chad]

I thought it was PPV. I'm sure I've ordered a couple of fights from it a few years ago. Maybe it changed now. Whatever way you look at it, in the short term it's just another expense for fans of boxing!

I think you're maybe thinking of Primetime. They popped up for a few years showing fights from the Super 6 tournament, some Mayweather and Pacman fights plus Ricky Hattons return. They went down the pan 2 years ago.

Here's the link to Premier Sports website:

http://www.premiersports.tv/

£9.99 per month for Virgin Media and Talktalk customers but it's a joke if you have SKY. SKY customers pay £11.99 per month for SD or £12.99 per month for HD with a 2 month minimum subscription plus a £7 connection fee. So if you have SKY it's going to cost you £32.98 to watch the fight in HD. That is absurd.

Thanks for all your information you always have great knowledge when it comes to this stuff . Yeh £32.98 to watch this fight is silly and I cant see many boxing fans subscribing for this, its not getting much press this fight as no one is interested in it so maybe they should have done a free weekend view to see how many would watch.

Cheers mate. It's going to be a hard sell. If a boxing fan is going to part with money that day to watch a show on TV surely it'll be to buy Joshua Vs. Martin on SKY Sports Box Office? Can't see many people taking out a subscription with Premier Sports after paying £16.95 for a PPV.

[veriton]

if its a straight choice, ill pay for joshua v martin. pretty bored of pacman after his no-show against floyd and he's on the way out. plus we've seen him fight bradley before.

[keirw]

I bet Frank W is waking up every night drenched in cold sweat now that these guys are back on the scene.

[handsofstone]

You were getting Premier Sports for free on the Virgin XL package until last year when by then typically they'd stopped showing boxing,i used to subscribe to it at my mums when it used to show a lot of boxing just after Setanta when down the tubes years ago

I wont be paying for this

[ShadrachSimmo]

I'd rather see BN spend the same money on several shows than pile it all into this one. Not really interested in it, I'll find a way to watch it but I think it's just a money spinner for all involved.

Exactly. Do we really need to see these 2 fight a 3rd time?

[handsofstone]

I'd rather see BN spend the same money on several shows than pile it all into this one. Not really interested in it, I'll find a way to watch it but I think it's just a money spinner for all involved.

Exactly. Do we really need to see these 2 fight a 3rd time?

Agreed Pacquiao won both fights clearly,i do give Bradley a good chance in this one mind but im not arsed about it being made

[PredatorHayds]

100% I will buy the Joshua fight now. Can't see many boxing fans forking out for this.

[Boxing Prospect]

Shame Sky didn't package the two together, would have been value for the PPV...ah there's the issue

[Reece_D]

Will be streaming the Pac vs Brad fight then. Only really wanted to see the undercard fight of Abraham vs Ramirez anyway.

[afcmarshall]

They had the uk rights to the Copa america last year and had a special offer of your first two months for £9.99 with no connection fee so can only pressume they will do something similar otherwise there not going to get many people laying out over £30 to watch one fight

[chad]

B0xnati0n have confirmed today they have signed a new 2 year deal with Top Rank which starts after Pacman Vs. Bradley III.

Here is their reply to people tweeting them about not showing the fight:

"We are disappointed too, the offer they made this time didn’t work financially, however, we are delighted to confirm we have just renewed the TopRank output deal meaning B0xNati0n will show their best fights for next 2 years after this"

Panic over then

[Larrylefthook]

That's great and its actually very brave of them to not overbid on this fight in a way as they knew they would get criticized, instead they realised you cant win every battle and this was one of them.

[stujones]

Any ideas on who might show the Ortiz vs Thompson fight this weekend.