Lewis PPV Bout Moved to HBO

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

The June 21 Lennox Lewis-Kirk Johnson heavyweight-championship fight,
scheduled to air on pay-per-view, has been moved to premium network Home Box
Office, sources close to the situation said.

The PPV event was to include the Lewis-Johnson fight, as well as a Mike
Tyson-Oleg Maskaev clash, but fight distributor HBO PPV was unable to sign Tyson
to a contract.

HBO PPV representatives could not be reached for comment at press
time.

While a Lewis-Johnson fight on its own merits is not nearly the PPV draw it would be with Tyson, In Demand L.L.C. vice president of programming and development Dan York said the PPV provider was prepared to distribute the event.

"We're extremely disappointed that HBO pulled the event from PPV after everything was in place to televise the event -- with or without Tyson -- and instead decided to air it on HBO," York said.

R. Thomas Umstead
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.