BoxRec

Call me Johnny Downcast, but the British TV situation is a bit of a fornicating mess isn't it?

We're nearly in the last week of February and this is what we've had:

Sky/Boxxer have put on one show in Jan (PPV) and one in Feb. Nothing UK wise planned to be shown until the last Saturday in March (Okolie vs Light).

BT/Queensbury gave us Beterbiev vs Yarde in Jan and then a prospect show last Friday. Nothing planned until the same night as the next Boxxer show in March (naturally) - a Telford show.

A month then, with no UK shows. During the next few weeks British title fights are planned at Flyweight, Super Fly and Featherweight - none of which are being shown on the telly.

The DAZN/Matchroom experiment is clearly struggling - now would be a good time for Sky and BT to ramp up their boxing content, but the scarcity of programming suggests it is not a priority for either platform.

Beterbiev and Joyce on normal tv with a prospects show and a ppv isnt too bad from BT to begin the year with.

I think it’s actually been a very good start to the year.
All 3 platforms have also got good cards lined up over the next few months.

BT have had a great start to the year, Yarde v Beterbiev and then the prospects show last Friday which turned out to be excellent. Champions League back on, then Joyce with Heaney in between. Well worth it.

Just to clarify, 3 shows in the first 3 months of the year is now considered a good output for a sports channel?

Yes, Beterbiev vs Yarde was great, following it up with a York Hall prospects card and the Telford card in the next two months is not good, no matter whether you are broadly "team Frank" or not.

I agree that neither BT or Sky have properly taken advantage of Eddie going to DAZN and suffering with a lack of promotion from his TV partner.

BT had a pretty good year last year with some big shows but their output on regular BT Sports shows was average at times.

I’ve no problem with the prospect shows but they should be in addition to the normal shows. One excellent show in Beterbiev/Yarde followed by a poor prospect card and then the Telford show in the first 3 months is fine but not great either.

Sky’s U.K. output has been poor this year. They did the PPV which was fine but a borderline PPV and then a prospect show followed by the Okolie show where there isn’t a fight on there that I think will be competitive as yet. 2 U.K. shows on regular Sky Sports in 3 months simply isn’t enough.

magnus wrote: ↑20 Feb 2023, 17:59 Just to clarify, 3 shows in the first 3 months of the year is now considered a good output for a sports channel?

Yes, Beterbiev vs Yarde was great, following it up with a York Hall prospects card and the Telford card in the next two months is not good, no matter whether you are broadly "team Frank" or not.

A show a month is good going. Plus BT subscription comes with lots of other decent content, like seeing Liverpool get whacked last night!