HBO Forces Fight Off YouTube

YouTube Monday was forced to remove video of HBO's May 5 Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. pay-per-view telecast after the network protested to the social Web site about its posting.

HBO has exclusive rights to the rebroadcast of the PPV fight and has scheduled its first airing this Saturday on the network, but AP reported that several copies of the bout appeared on YouTube over the weekend.

The fight -- in which Mayweather defeated de la Hoya in a close decision -- was expected to draw more than 1.4 million buys, a record for a nonheavyweight event.

The videos were taken down shortly after 4 p.m. Monday and replaced with a notice saying they were "no longer available due to a copyright claim by Home Box Office Inc.," according to the AP, although HBO officials denied taking any legal action against the site.

"We're very aggressive in monitoring our content, and we reacted quickly to have it removed," HBO Sports spokesman Ray Stallone said.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.