PPV in the 1960' and 1970's

**greynotsoold** · 08-18-2012 09:05 PM

They used to do close-circuit tv. That was how they did Holmes/Cooney; in my part of the world, you had to go out to the arena in San Bernardino to see the fight. But there was also ON Subscription TV, kind of like cable, but different, too.
My neighbors had ON and watched the Holmes/Cooney fight, but for some reason I was banned.
Same with the first Leonard/Hearns fight. You could get that via ON TV. Some people a few blocks away had the fight and projected it onto a big screen, like the old projector screens from years ago. I was walking my dog and saw that they had the fight, so I'd peer over the fence until their dog barked. Then they'd come and chase me away, I'd circle the block, come back and watch until they chased me away again.

**greynotsoold** · 08-18-2012 09:06 PM

Saw Hagler/Hearns via ON TV as well. This time my friend's parents had a hook-up.

**Master** · 08-24-2012 10:07 AM

I remember watching the replay of Ali v Fraizier I fight where they said they flew in the tape of the fight the day after, exclusive to the BBC so that the nation could watch it. So the fight was not live over here then.

Also to this day I have not seen the Bruno v Witherspoon fight. It was odd they showed the pre-fight hype on mainstream TV but then the fight was not shown and we found out the result the day after.

**Britkid** · 06-05-2016 05:15 AM

The son of Alan Rudkin has said that there was an 'experiment' in the mid 60s where some of his father's bouts were shown on cable on a PPV basis, in parts of the North of England.

**Master** · 06-05-2016 05:33 AM

Originally Posted by Britkid

The son of Alan Rudkin has said that there was an 'experiment' in the mid 60s where some of his father's bouts were shown on cable on a PPV basis, in parts of the North of England.

Must have failed because if it worked they would have made Henry Cooper a superstar and multi millionaire.

**SlimTrae** · 06-05-2016 08:21 AM

Gray said it: closed circuit.

**Britkid** · 06-05-2016 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by Britkid

The son of Alan Rudkin has said that there was an 'experiment' in the mid 60s where some of his father's bouts were shown on cable on a PPV basis, in parts of the North of England.

Must have failed because if it worked they would have made Henry Cooper a superstar and multi millionaire.

60s TV in the UK was weird. I always thought then Division One matches did not start being shown on TV live until the 80s; but they actually started showing them in 1961, but it did not take off and was stopped...