An idea for SKY to consider
Posted: 21 Oct 2013, 14:33
Noticed on Twitter today that the undercard for this weeks Brook Vs. Senchenko event has been moved from red button onto SKY Sports 3. That's great news 'cause now I can watch the undercard in glorious HD.
The move got me thinking about other things that SKY could be doing to raise the profile of boxing, and the undercard shows.
Now that SKY has moved back into PPV boxing I was thinking about their other PPV mainstay, WWE wrestling. SKY show RAW and Smackdown exclusively on SKY Sports. SKY show roughly 50% of the big WWE events each year on SKY Sports and the other 50% on SKY Box Office for £14.95. SKY however also show WWE Superstars and WWE Experience, highlight shows of RAW and Smackdown, on SKY One each week. I find this interesting as it means people at various subscription levels can follow the WWE each week. This allows them to follow story line and may persuade some to upgrade their package to watch full shows on SKY Sports or to order the PPV events on SKY Box Office.
Similar to the above SKY do the same kind of thing for football. People who don't have SKY Sports can pretty much watch all the goals from a Saturday on Goals Express on SKY Sports News. On a Saturday morning viewers can watch Soccer AM on SKY One which is appealing to those who like football news and a bit of banter.
Anyway the point of this is maybe it would be a good idea for SKY to put these "red button" undercards on SKY One or even Pick TV, rather than SKY Sports 3. This would give guys lower down on the card massive exposure. After all these fighters will be the next big stars in the Matchroom stable. Why not give them an early boost and open them up to a wider audience. It would also act as an advert for the quality of the boxing, and boxing coverage you'd get if you upgraded your package to include SKY Sports. Alternatively why not produce a weekly highlight show for SKY One? Again this would help raise the profile for those who box for Matchroom and might help get more casual fans interested in the live shows on SKY Sports.
I suppose they could always put Ringside on SKY One.
The move got me thinking about other things that SKY could be doing to raise the profile of boxing, and the undercard shows.
Now that SKY has moved back into PPV boxing I was thinking about their other PPV mainstay, WWE wrestling. SKY show RAW and Smackdown exclusively on SKY Sports. SKY show roughly 50% of the big WWE events each year on SKY Sports and the other 50% on SKY Box Office for £14.95. SKY however also show WWE Superstars and WWE Experience, highlight shows of RAW and Smackdown, on SKY One each week. I find this interesting as it means people at various subscription levels can follow the WWE each week. This allows them to follow story line and may persuade some to upgrade their package to watch full shows on SKY Sports or to order the PPV events on SKY Box Office.
Similar to the above SKY do the same kind of thing for football. People who don't have SKY Sports can pretty much watch all the goals from a Saturday on Goals Express on SKY Sports News. On a Saturday morning viewers can watch Soccer AM on SKY One which is appealing to those who like football news and a bit of banter.
Anyway the point of this is maybe it would be a good idea for SKY to put these "red button" undercards on SKY One or even Pick TV, rather than SKY Sports 3. This would give guys lower down on the card massive exposure. After all these fighters will be the next big stars in the Matchroom stable. Why not give them an early boost and open them up to a wider audience. It would also act as an advert for the quality of the boxing, and boxing coverage you'd get if you upgraded your package to include SKY Sports. Alternatively why not produce a weekly highlight show for SKY One? Again this would help raise the profile for those who box for Matchroom and might help get more casual fans interested in the live shows on SKY Sports.
I suppose they could always put Ringside on SKY One.
