HBO, Showtime Swing in the Ring

But Mayweather-Pacquiao Bout May Be on the Ropes

By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2012 12:01:00 AM

New York — In a dose of good news for boxing fans, the sports heads of both HBO and Showtime are committed to supporting the sweet science on their respective networks.

HBO Sports president Ken Hershman told a gathering of writers at the premium channel’s offices last week that the network is still bullish about boxing and dedicated to making this category succeed by televising competitive, attractive HBO World Championship Boxing telecasts and big ticket pay-perview events.

“The management likes the product, it works with subscribers and ratings have been up double digit in 2011,” Hershman said. “We’ll cont inue to build on that and revitalize the category … there’s a strong commitment to boxing that’s never wavered and I don’t expect it to under my tenure in the future.”

Hershman, who joined the Time Warner Inc.-owned network last month after heading up sports for rival Showtime, wouldn’t comment on any fights HBO is planning to develop over the next 12 months.

But he was candid about the waning potential for a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather mega-bout taking place this year.

He said the fight — which has been in negotiations for the better part of the past two years — could be made sometime in late 2012 or early 2013, but that is by no means a certainty, despite its potential to garner the most pay-per-view buys and revenue ever.

Hershman said the fight has a “sell-by” date of late 2012 or early 2013 before it loses its appeal to boxing fans.

He also said the fight will not make or break the sport — but that it does hang over it.

“I would love to see the fight as a fan, but it does get in the way of fights being made a good business being done for everybody, because you do get stalled as everything gets sorted out,” Hershman said.

SHOWTIME DOUBLES DOWN

Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza told Multichannel News last week his network is doubling down on its commitment to boxing in 2012 as it looks to give the sport more exposure on a number of different platforms.

The CBSowned premium network will use its Showtime Extreme multiplex channel to televise undercard fights leading up to Showtime’s main event telecasts, beginning with the Feb. 18 doubleheader telecast of Paul Williams vs. Nobuhiro Ishida and Tavoris Cloud vs. Gabriel Campillo.

“It makes too much sense not to air those fights for our hard-core fans,” he said. “There isn’t any downside for anybody. It also supports the sport.”

Espinoza, the former lawyer for Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, believes boxing is still among the most exciting and thrilling sports to experience, particularly live in an arena. Networks in general have to find better ways to translate that excitement onto the small screen to help broaden the sport’s appeal, he said.

“The [viewership] numbers from our core audience and the value that we get [for boxing] has not changed, particularly for African- American and Hispanic households,” Espinoza said. “We do have some work to do in how we are packaging and presenting the sport. But even with those constraints, it’s an incredibly valuable asset that at its highest level can capture the imagination, press and website space for its biggest events.”