BT and Sky going head to head would not really include boxing as a serious concern. Football is way and beyond everything else in terms of sports coverage, and Sky has more of it. Add grand slam tennis, England test matches, golf majors and rugby internationals, (probably the four biggest sports after football) and there is little serious competition. The audience who would genuinely choose between one and the other based on boxing coverage are a drop in the ocean.JimJim2009 wrote:It will be interesting to see how this does work out. I do think a big problem for BN is its obscurity, the average sports fan will not have a clue it exists. At least with the BT platform, awareness can be spread massively. There is probably a finite volume of boxing fans in the UK willing to pay for BN, and they'll all know about it. £12 a month is honestly fxxk all in the big scheme of things. Yes Fwank may lose dedicated subscribers who may as well just pay for BT sport, but through wider awareness he'll pick up new subscribers, plus if Fwank can launch his PPV aspirations in 2017 off the back of this, there is serious money to be made there.
The risk to Eddie is the harm done to Sky viewing figures if BT and Sky go head to head. Eddie needs those viewing figures, he does have a long term contract but BN wouldn't dent those figures, BT might, if they go head to head.
The move to BT has to be a positive for BN fighters; we have comparable fighters in the shape of Flanagan and Crolla for example, but nobody has heard of the former. BJ Saunders fighting in a 300 seater leisure centre is an absolute disgrace. He's an unbeaten world champion for crying out loud. Boxing isn't dead, but for all the promotion these fighters receive they might as well be.
I'm just not sure BN will pick up enough new subscribers though. What will they be subscribing for if the big fights are all on BT (and Sky) anyway? I'd say your average person in the UK who is a broad sports fan will have Sky or BT, they will often pay for PPV fights involving the likes of Joshua, and if they get an extra few free fights thrown in then great, but they sure as hell aren't going to spend £144 a year to watch the likes of Walsh and Skeete.
