Pacquoa-Horn to kick off Top Rank's new platform on ESPN

[hectari]

Then you're getting ripped off and are a moron instead lol

And on another note, DirectTV sux.
I swapped from Dish recently and couldn't be more disappointed.

I thought direct tv was supposed to be cheaper and good deal

[Boxing Goat]

I thought direct tv was supposed to be cheaper and good deal

Its cheaper but that's about it

[Street]

Good post.
But you forgot something. HBO can also play that game and look at other options. HBO is also a huge promotional venue due to it's millions of subscribers. Top Rank may hold all the marbles but they need HBO to be able to play.

This is a temporary tantrum. HBO and Showtime is where the money is. Not ESPN, not PBS and not Box Nation

[Mitchell Kane]

This is a temporary tantrum.

This isn't temporary, Arum has been complaining about HBO for a while now.

The video of Arum complaining about Peter Nelson and saying they wouldn't let HBO match-make for them is two years old....that relationship has appeared strained for a while now.

Something was gong to have to change, with Top Rank not able to keep guys like Crawford and Lomachenko as active on HBO as they've wanted to.

And the rumors of Top Rank having some kind of plan in the works have been around for a while....especially as they've continued to sign many top amateur/Olympic boxers.

HBO and Showtime is where the money is. Not ESPN, not PBS and not Box Nation

HBO doesn't have enough dates/money for all of Top Ranks fighters, and SHO certainly doesn't have enough given their commitments to Haymon/PBC.

That's what this comes down to.

Top Rank needed to find other money....if they've gotten hedge fund money with the goal of setting up something a streaming network like the WWE Network or UFC Fight Pass, then they have found a new source for money.

Top Rank has done their own streaming and produced many of their own shows for years now.

The hedge fund money may be temporary, but the streaming service likely won't be.

Presumably they'll use the ESPN fight cards to publicize and drive traffic to their streaming service, which I would assume will have their huge fight library, some live fight cards, and other content like undercard fights from televised fght cards, weigh-ins, press conferences, etc.

[downklown]

Good post.
But you forgot something. HBO can also play that game and look at other options. HBO is also a huge promotional venue due to it's millions of subscribers. Top Rank may hold all the marbles but they need HBO to be able to play.

This is a temporary tantrum. HBO and Showtime is where the money is. Not ESPN, not PBS and not Box Nation

Dude, it's over for HBO Boxing outside of mega PPV events. The reason Top Rank is leaving is because they aren't putting up any real money for boxing anymore.
It's like when ESPN dropped the NHL years back. They obviously had the money to keep it but they can make more money investing in other stuff. HBO is putting their money into original programming. That's just what it is.

[Mitchell Kane]

Dude, it's over for HBO Boxing outside of mega PPV events. The reason Top Rank is leaving is because they aren't putting up any real money for boxing anymore.
It's like when ESPN dropped the NHL years back. They obviously had the money to keep it but they can make more money investing in other stuff. HBO is putting their money into original programming. That's just what it is.

HBO has a lot of competitors for original content now, too.

SHO and Starz develop more original shows these days.

Netflix and Amazon are now competitors with much more of their own original content.

Apple just brought in two former Sony execs to presumably start developing their own original content.

[Mitchell Kane]

Dude, it's over for HBO Boxing outside of mega PPV events. The reason Top Rank is leaving is because they aren't putting up any real money for boxing anymore.
It's like when ESPN dropped the NHL years back. They obviously had the money to keep it but they can make more money investing in other stuff. HBO is putting their money into original programming. That's just what it is.

HBO has also made some bad financial decisions recently with flops like Vinyl and Bill Simmons.

Maybe HBO just isn't what it used to be.

[strykr619]

If true then HBO essentialky going to be done for all intents and purposes

Seems like a great idea from Arum, hopefully PBC on CBS/Showtime/Fox
TR on Espn& Abc and HBo to show what Ever is left over

Damn though Pac fighting on Espn,that's a rather quickly fall from grace

Considering ESPN is the only big cable sport channel in Asia what is considered a fall here is a boon to them.

[Finito2K]

Good post.
But you forgot something. HBO can also play that game and look at other options. HBO is also a huge promotional venue due to it's millions of subscribers. Top Rank may hold all the marbles but they need HBO to be able to play.

This is a temporary tantrum. HBO and Showtime is where the money is. Not ESPN, not PBS and not Box Nation

HBO is simply a premium cable network. Arum's bound to reach a bigger audience on ESPN.

[hectari]

Good post.
But you forgot something. HBO can also play that game and look at other options. HBO is also a huge promotional venue due to it's millions of subscribers. Top Rank may hold all the marbles but they need HBO to be able to play.

This is a temporary tantrum. HBO and Showtime is where the money is. Not ESPN, not PBS and not Box Nation

Did you read, Arum said HBO did a survey asking their subscribers what is the reason they buy hbo, only a small percent even said Boxing, and when asked on the survey if they watched HBO boxing only 5 percent said they do.

You reach a bigger market on ESPN/ABC.

Its better for boxing, also ESPN can put on their own PPV if they can develop some of these rising stars to the mainstream

What you get with ESPN is shows, free publicity, ESPN will have many of the Top rank boxers on their show slike first take and so forth, and casuals will become familiar, something you cant do with HBO.