Thread: HBO takes fight to YouTube, gets video pulled

LOS ANGELES -- Video of the 12-round fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was taken down from YouTube.com on Monday after HBO filed a copyright claim, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

HBO had exclusive rights to rebroadcast the pay-per-view fight Saturday. However, the original broadcast was available on the Internet site during the weekend.

One video appeared to have come from a poor-quality, foreign-language broadcast, while another was a relatively high-quality copy that included announcer Jim Lampley's call and the post-fight decision that went to Mayweather, according to the Times.

The videos were taken down shortly after 4 p.m. Monday and replaced with a notice saying it was "no longer available due to a copyright claim by Home Box Office Inc."

An e-mail seeking comment from a YouTube spokesperson was not immediately returned.

"We take our copyright issues very seriously," Ray Stallone, spokesman for HBO, a division of Time Warner Inc., told the newspaper. "We consider it extremely valuable programming, and we reacted quickly when we saw that it was available."

The first video drew several thousand hits; the higher quality one had a few hundred hits per round, the Times reported.

Big fights never last long.

They used to until Youtube was sold

Lol.. I have loads of video's on my youtube account.. I just hope they never recognise mine since i have all my work up there and if my account gets banned i loose them all..lol

Not to mention i hear a few people are actually getting sued for copywright infringment etc..

Check how many are already 'no longer available' in the best of British video section in the UK forum
Really don't see the problem if they are put up AFTER the PPV event.
We got it free anyway in the uk so as far as i'm concerned,banning it doesn't really serve a purpose in the UK anyway.

Originally Posted by Smashup

They used to until Youtube was sold

CC for that sooo true.

Originally Posted by Smashup

Check how many are already 'no longer available' in the best of British video section in the UK forum
Really don't see the problem if they are put up AFTER the PPV event.
We got it free anyway in the uk so as far as i'm concerned,banning it doesn't really serve a purpose in the UK anyway.

They are all pissed because theyr reshowing it next saturday..Guess it will affect the ratings quite dramatically since a large amount of people will have watched it over and over on the internet..

Fair play for HBO, I would be pissed too if I shelled out to get the rights to replay this huge megafight a week after it happened, and then someone put it up on youtube for millions to see for free.

UFC's parent company Zuffa do the same thing with UFC fights uploaded onto Youtube.

if u listened to the jim rome show yesterday (may 7), then u probably heard his guest host andrew siciliano going on and on about how his dvr was set to record the fight but 4 whatever reason it didn't so he had to watch the fight on youtube, and how it was still available 2 b viewed on youtube. romes show is 1 of the most popular radio programs in the US and Canada, so i really dont understand y andrew was so reckless with his comments, cause if the wrong person is listening, of course they r gonna have the fights pulled. romes show ends @3, the fight is pulled by 4

That is why I don't like using YouTube anymore.