the effect of no terrestrial coverage on boxing

[slip&counter]

what effect does no boxing on terrestrial tv have on the sport? i think it has a major effect on the lack of publicity for young fighters (one fight could make them a household name) expanding the fan base and getting more people into it, the fan base has become stagnant, i remember when khan was on ITV my mum would sit down and watch (my mum never watched boxing before) and i know people who got into boxing and now have little interest its no longer on terestrial.

its a big TV sport thats what made it so popular and got it into the mainstream in the past.
Barry hearn saying the other day ABC in America showed watson/mccallum just shows how times have changed as today that fight would lucky to get televised on VRS in the states.

just to emphasize the numbers even a decent fight could get and that casuals will tune in Khan vs Earl in 07 got 7 million on ITV close to midnight and the much publicized and extremely hyped champions league final last week between Barca and Man U got just over 8 mill.

The sport needs terestrial coverage more then anything to get back into the mainstream lets hope it gets back there ASAP, However with the abolitionists at the beeb don't hold your breath, that audley Harrison fiasco didn't help the prospects of the beeb going back in the ring either.

[NO MAS]

You have made some really good pionts there. I think a lot of the money involved in the sport today for fighters can be generated by PPV.... If they know that puters will buy it, they willalways have some pulling power at the table... how oftenm have we seen the arguements about who gets the highest percenatage of the PPV money.... I think that the exposure it is giving our domestic up and coming fighters is very poor and wish that BBC or ITV would dig a bit deeper and give some of the licence payers want they want as opposed to what they are given :good

[Lewisbell]

Honestly, people like ****** would do better if Khan beame a mega star, scrapping Sky and putting it on ITV

[BamBam]

Why would ****** do better putting it on ITV instead of Sky? He's in the business of making money and the PPV's and 20 fight deals with satellite channels are where the big €£$ is at.

Ideally you would have a lot of boxing on terrestrial tv but it ain't going to happen to the degree most people would like it to. A big name world champion can make $20ml or whatever from a fight on a PPV network. ITV, BBC, whoever, just haven't got the resources to shell out for that. So it comes down to a boxer and a promoter having to choose between fighting on PPV for big money or on terrestrial tv for a fraction of that. Simple economics in the end.

I think what could be improved over in britain is the likes of the Sky Friday Fight Night shows. All those brit/commonwealth/area title nights are wasted on sky as they are strung out all over the place. If you could get a night with 3 decent title bouts on the same bill, say every 4 months or so, and get it on BBC or whatever, I think that would really raise awareness and interest in domestic boxing in britain.

I can't imagine sky pay huge money to anyone for the likes of the brit title fights I'm talking about. So if the BBC/ITV was to get 2 or 3 of these multiple title fight nights a year and do a good job making them a real 'event' on the channel then they may prove value for money.

Not going to happen though unfortunately

[kieron]

I blame Rupert Murdoch. Satan re-incarnated!!

[robpalmer135]

In the states, the only boxing that gets shown on free to air tv is ESPN Friday Night Fights, which is prospects and former champions. To be able to afford to put this on, they have several sponsers and adverts between every single round.

If the equivilent was to be shown on ITV all people would do is complain about to many adverts

[slip&counter]

BamBam, i wasn't talking about mega fights being on terestrial TV, no one expects hatton vs pacquaio to be on free to air those days are over and rightly so the fighter deserve every extra penny.

However wouldnt it be better for the fighters. promoters and satelite networks if they just bide their time and let the fighters grow and get the exposure and fellowing on the terestrial TV? better all round in the long run especially where the money is conserned. Like naz getting 9 plus mill on ITV and already a household name before going to sky.

I know the Terestrial TV won't like the fighters going after building them up, but why rush to PPV look what it did to Khan ****** was forced to get an opponent "worthy" of PPV main event and it ended up being one of the worse cock ups in recent memory.

Why not stay there longer maybe even have at least one world title fight (if they get that far) on regular TV. Would tyson fury be as known if he was popping up on the odd FFN? instead he and people like barker are more known then guys who maybe better or should have more recognition all because they've appear on ITV4.

[destruction]

Would Frank Bruno, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn been national superstars without ITV boxing coverage?

If they had been on Sky sports their entire careers what would have been the effect on their exposure to the british public?

I rest my case.

['Ben']

In the states, the only boxing that gets shown on free to air tv is ESPN Friday Night Fights, which is prospects and former champions. To be able to afford to put this on, they have several sponsers and adverts between every single round.

If the equivilent was to be shown on ITV all people would do is complain about to many adverts


That happens on ITV anyway.

['Ben']

Tyson Fury is getting a hell of alot of publicity... and I think the fact that he is on ITV4 is partly the reason (most people have IT4 now) Beacuse Fury is a Heavyweight aswell I think that if he was on ITV1 he'd be getting about the same publcity that Amir Khan was getting early on in his career.

Terrestrial TV need to get their head out their arse, infact I'm going to complain becuase they have no excuse!

[kieron]

wasn't Bruno a structly BBC fighter?

[TIGEREDGE]

boxing is still a hugely popular sport. most people are more interetsted in it than other sports. Football is the only sport that can beat it for popularity

it just doesnt get the exposure it should

[slip&counter]

tigerredge, i'm always surprised that people especially promoters fail to realise the importance of free to air exposure for boxing, its simple no matter how skilled a fighter is if no1 has the chance to see him or he doesn't get enough exposure then he ain't gonna sell tickets there are plenty of potential boxing fans who don't have access to satelite TV

your right for the lack of exposure and terestrial TV telecasts just goes to show how popular the sport is that it still has a lot of impact, but something needs to be done to capture the next generation of fans

[slip&counter]

Kieren, yes Bruno had most of his fights on the beeb and is one of the most popular British sportmen and at one time the most famous/popular man in Britain just to emphasize the point, would big Frank be as popular in these times? asnwer is no because not many people would get to see him as he would probably be stuck on sky or setanta

[slip&counter]

'Ben', it's outrageous that for the amount of interest in boxing that the beeb shows no boxing coverage

[mugen82]

Auntie Beeb over the past 5 years has shown bouts featuring Witter, Froch and Haye, yet have never followed up on this, and susequently all three have won elite championship belts on Pay tv.

Unfortuantely, anytime BBC have really promoted a Boxing card, its blown up in thier face, i.e. the Audley fiasco, and a massively jetlagged lazy Lennox Lewis getting knocked the hell out by Rahman.

[slip&counter]

what is the most watched sporting event ever in British television?......anyone?
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. Mcguigan vs Pedroza, 20 + mill

[BamBam]

I'm pretty sure the blonde bint getting covered with a few shovel fulls of dirt was way ahead of that as far as viewing figures went

[BURNLEYBLUE]

I'm pretty sure the blonde bint getting covered with a few shovel fulls of dirt was way ahead of that as far as viewing figures went
Dont think burying members of the royal family is classed as a sporting event :lol: maybe it should be