Khan vs McCloskey moved from Sky PPV to Sky Sports 3

[generalbulldog]

So Khan is going to Primetime instead? Seems that a lot of British boxing fans on other boards are saying it's a major mistake by Khan and his team instead of having it on regular Sky that they are going to Primetime PPV.

Are HBO aware that primetime don't broadcast in HD?, some people are going to be dissapointed.
Totally true.

95% of the uk public have no idea what primetime is

Yeah its the biggest and by far richest broadcaster in the uk, they are the entire sattalite network.

Primetime is one, smalltime channel

if u aint on sky or one of the terrestrials then noone is watching ur fight. simple as.
i'll bet that they go back to sky with their tail between the legs in the end.

If Khan said he was moving to ITV fair enough he would get good coverage there but moving to Primetime is an awfull idea.

Primetime is a MUCH smaller PPV service that barely anyone is aware of. They don't have the benefit of cross promotion to other sports fans (for example Sky has it's own Sports News channel that is extremely popular with fans of most sports, especially soccer which is by far the biggest sport here, plus they can advertise with onscreen banners and regular adverts on their 4+ 24/7 sports channels) and as such rely on the more keen boxing fan who seeks out a matchup - as you can imagine their sales are an absolute fraction of Sky's too.

Oh well, it ain't my career.

[JazMerkin]

Maybe it is a shit fight, but in that case, why is everyone blaming Team Khan for being greedy? Sky were happy to sell this fight PPV until a few days ago. It is not Khan's fault the undercard fucked up.

So.. this is all Sky's fault for greenlighting a "shit" fight in the first place. All Team Khan have done is take their fight from one PPV station to another.

If he earns more from the Primetime PPV than the £100,000 offer from Sky he wins. Simple as.

The point being is that Khan's team overestimated his star appeal to sell the shit fight. Pac can get away with it in Clottey because he's an all out action star and top p4p. Haye can do it with Harrison because he has a charismatic persona and can call himself HW champ not to mentioned Harrison was an Gold winner at the olympics and is at least somewhat known to the UK public.

Khan doesn't have those things going for him to sell a fight on PPV agaisnt some d list fighter.

GB, why are you trying to act like you understand how the UK public buys PPVs? Khan is a much bigger name over here than Manny Pacquiao. Like it says above, the Pacquiao-Hatton fight did 300,000, in contrast Mayweather-Hatton did 1.3m. To the general UK public, Pacquiao is 'that guy who KO'd Ricky Hatton & trains with Amir Khan'.

Haye-Harrison was big because it traded on Haye being more popular as a HW champ, and the fact there was that animosity. Haye would not do such big numbers against Matt Skelton. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Audley is the most recognized recent British boxing name with the UK public outside of Haye, Khan, Hatton & Calzaghe. Guys like Froch or Ricky Burns just don't register in the same way.

I think Sky have handled this all wrong. The only people who were going to buy this for the whole card were hardcore boxing fans, and let's face it 90% of them will look for a stream or go to a pub as they did for the Haye-Harrison fight. Most who would have paid for the card would have done so for Khan (who is absolutely massive in the Asian community). I think Team Khan generally act like some dickheads & do down a very likeable fighter, but the fact Sky tried to shaft them onto Sky Sports 3 speaks volumes. They really couldn't shift over a replay of the afternoon Premier League game instead so Khan could be on SS1 or 2, which are the channels that most people have?

The fact they first tried to go to ITV tells me they're not as greedy as we're making out & to be fair it would be difficult for a terrestrial channel to suddenly shift about their Saturday night coverage. The major problem with moving to Primetime would be that it doesn't have the same promotional abilities to casual fans that Sky Box Office does. Considering that the Khan-Maidana fight reportedly did as many sales as Hatton-Pacquiao maybe Sky have missed a trick.

[ono]

Yeah, and one that will get him like 1/8 of the exposure and casual fans in that being on Sky would.
I find it hard to believe that this Primetime deal will do him any favours in the long term for the Bradley fight. A free fight on Sky would have been the best advert for the big one.
Anyone else think relations with Sky will be so damaged now that the Khan camp will be stubborn and stick with Primetime?

He's Amir Khan. He's been headlining since he turned pro. How many more casual fans do you think he is likely to pick up? He's also fighting Paul McCloskey. It doesn't matter which ppv station shows it. It's a gimme fight, and if Khan earns more from Primetime than he would from Sky, he will have made the correct decision.

Sky will want him again if he fights Bradley anyway. They aren't going to hold grudges if he's worth a lot of money to them. I'm pretty sure Khan knows this.

[Fenster]

So Khan is going to Primetime instead? Seems that a lot of British boxing fans on other boards are saying it's a major mistake by Khan and his team instead of having it on regular Sky that they are going to Primetime PPV. Oh well, it ain't my career.

lol, the only way this fight will hurt Khan's career is if he's knocked out.

1. Sky refused the Malignaggi fight as PPV, so Khan/Golden Boy gave it FREE to ITV (a rival station). Did it hurt relations between Khan and Sky? Nope. Sky then gave Khan this April 16th PPV without even having a confirmed opponent. If there's big money to be made everyone quickly kisses and makes up in boxing.

2. HBO are showing the Primetime coverage delayed, exactly as they were the Sky coverage. So that hasn't changed a jot.

3. Primetime is available to all Sky customers. So what the fuck are the fans moaning about? If you want to watch the fight you have to buy it. NOTHING has changed.

4. You can safely bet your arse that 99% of fans complaining about this will be poncing STREAMS!!!

5. Why is there so much concern about Khan's future earning potential? Khan employs people to make business decisions. If they fuck up he can sack them. Either way, it doesn't affect us hardcore fans in the slightest. The only possible loser is Khan's pocket. Big deal!!!

Boxing fans are ridiculous (includes myself). Fact.

[Gandalf]

I haven't read through this thread yet, but before I do I will make an important observation. Khan/McCloskey is not a very good matchup and had no right to be PPV in the first place. In fact, many of Khan's fights have been joke PPV matchups.

That is all, I shall now read through the thread.

[Fenster]

I haven't read through this thread yet, but before I do I will make an important observation. Khan/McCloskey is not a very good matchup and had no right to be PPV in the first place. In fact, many of Khan's fights have been joke PPV matchups.

That is all, I shall now read through the thread.

And if you have any sense will come to the conclusion it is Sky's fault. Fact.

[erics44]

So Khan is going to Primetime instead? Seems that a lot of British boxing fans on other boards are saying it's a major mistake by Khan and his team instead of having it on regular Sky that they are going to Primetime PPV. Oh well, it ain't my career.

lol, the only way this fight will hurt Khan's career is if he's knocked out.

1. Sky refused the Malignaggi fight as PPV, so Khan/Golden Boy gave it FREE to ITV (a rival station). Did it hurt relations between Khan and Sky? Nope. Sky then gave Khan this April 16th PPV without even having a confirmed opponent. If there's big money to be made everyone quickly kisses and makes up in boxing.

2. HBO are showing the Primetime coverage delayed, exactly as they were the Sky coverage. So that hasn't changed a jot.

3. Primetime is available to all Sky customers. So what the fuck are the fans moaning about? If you want to watch the fight you have to buy it. NOTHING has changed.

4. You can safely bet your arse that 99% of fans complaining about this will be poncing STREAMS!!!

5. Why is there so much concern about Khan's future earning potential? Khan employs people to make business decisions. If they fuck up he can sack them. Either way, it doesn't affect us hardcore fans in the slightest. The only possible loser is Khan's pocket. Big deal!!!

Boxing fans are ridiculous (includes myself). Fact.

they do a lot of complaining

[Gandalf]

I haven't read through this thread yet, but before I do I will make an important observation. Khan/McCloskey is not a very good matchup and had no right to be PPV in the first place. In fact, many of Khan's fights have been joke PPV matchups.

That is all, I shall now read through the thread.

And if you have any sense will come to the conclusion it is Sky's fault. Fact.

Yes, Khan didn't make himself PPV. Sky did that. A few of Khan's recent fights have probably deserved it starting with Barrera, but on the whole too many of his fights have not been of that ilk. You don't make an up and comer PPV, it simply isn't justified. Now that he has actually started to make a name for himself it is called for, but McCloskey isn't one of them fights. It's a tune up more than anything else and shouldn't be treated as anything more than that.

[Mark TKO]

I've said all along I wouldn't pay for this one but the closer we get to fight time I start to think about the fact I wouldn't want to miss out on seeig Khan lose

very slim chance but you never know.

Might have to be a visit to the pub at least

[generalbulldog]

Maybe it is a shit fight, but in that case, why is everyone blaming Team Khan for being greedy? Sky were happy to sell this fight PPV until a few days ago. It is not Khan's fault the undercard fucked up.

So.. this is all Sky's fault for greenlighting a "shit" fight in the first place. All Team Khan have done is take their fight from one PPV station to another.

If he earns more from the Primetime PPV than the £100,000 offer from Sky he wins. Simple as.

The point being is that Khan's team overestimated his star appeal to sell the shit fight. Pac can get away with it in Clottey because he's an all out action star and top p4p. Haye can do it with Harrison because he has a charismatic persona and can call himself HW champ not to mentioned Harrison was an Gold winner at the olympics and is at least somewhat known to the UK public.

Khan doesn't have those things going for him to sell a fight on PPV agaisnt some d list fighter.

GB, why are you trying to act like you understand how the UK public buys PPVs? Khan is a much bigger name over here than Manny Pacquiao. Like it says above, the Pacquiao-Hatton fight did 300,000, in contrast Mayweather-Hatton did 1.3m. To the general UK public, Pacquiao is 'that guy who KO'd Ricky Hatton & trains with Amir Khan'.

Haye-Harrison was big because it traded on Haye being more popular as a HW champ, and the fact there was that animosity. Haye would not do such big numbers against Matt Skelton. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Audley is the most recognized recent British boxing name with the UK public outside of Haye, Khan, Hatton & Calzaghe. Guys like Froch or Ricky Burns just don't register in the same way.

I think Sky have handled this all wrong. The only people who were going to buy this for the whole card were hardcore boxing fans, and let's face it 90% of them will look for a stream or go to a pub as they did for the Haye-Harrison fight. Most who would have paid for the card would have done so for Khan (who is absolutely massive in the Asian community). I think Team Khan generally act like some dickheads & do down a very likeable fighter, but the fact Sky tried to shaft them onto Sky Sports 3 speaks volumes. They really couldn't shift over a replay of the afternoon Premier League game instead so Khan could be on SS1 or 2, which are the channels that most people have?

The fact they first tried to go to ITV tells me they're not as greedy as we're making out & to be fair it would be difficult for a terrestrial channel to suddenly shift about their Saturday night coverage. The major problem with moving to Primetime would be that it doesn't have the same promotional abilities to casual fans that Sky Box Office does. Considering that the Khan-Maidana fight reportedly did as many sales as Hatton-Pacquiao maybe Sky have missed a trick.

You're right I don't know how the UK public buys ppv over there, I'm just getting the info from British boxing fans from other boards that fills people in on how it works. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told that Primetime or whatever was some small channel that most of the UK doesn't have and that it was a mistake from team Khan switching to it? Because although Khan would be relegated to fighting on SS3 for this McCloskey fight it will still be a much bigger audience because it's Sky compared to PPV Primetime? I was told that if one isn't fighting on the Sky network or terrestrial television then people won't know that you're fighting? You can even be fighting great matchups and on some PPV brand but if it's not Sky, no one cares? Again that's what I've been told.

About Pac, no he's not a big star over in the UK, but in the US he is. He was in matches that boxing fans considered to be bad matches such as Clottey and Margarito, but one did 700k ppv buys and the other 1.15 million buys. What I'm trying to say is that certain guys can manage to do those kind of PPV numbers in bad matchups. Pac is one, Floyd is most definitely the other. I just read that Khan only manage to pull only 50 advance orders of the PPV fighting McCloskey, although that's not the final number but is extremely low. So it seems to me that Khan isn't one of those stars that can manage to get people to order the PPV in bad matchups, but Pac can. That was what I was trying to point out.

[JazMerkin]

You're right I don't know how the UK public buys ppv over there, I'm just getting the info from British boxing fans from other boards that fills people in on how it works. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told that Primetime or whatever was some small channel that most of the UK doesn't have and that it was a mistake from team Khan switching to it? Because although Khan would be relegated to fighting on SS3 for this McCloskey fight it will still be a much bigger audience because it's Sky compared to PPV Primetime? I was told that if one isn't fighting on the Sky network or terrestrial television then people won't know that you're fighting? You can even be fighting great matchups and on some PPV brand but if it's not Sky, no one cares? Again that's what I've been told.

About Pac, no he's not a big star over in the UK, but in the US he is. He was in matches that boxing fans considered to be bad matches such as Clottey and Margarito, but one did 700k ppv buys and the other 1.15 million buys. What I'm trying to say is that certain guys can manage to do those kind of PPV numbers in bad matchups. Pac is one, Floyd is most definitely the other. I just read that Khan only manage to pull only 50 advance orders of the PPV fighting McCloskey, although that's not the final number but is extremely low. So it seems to me that Khan isn't one of those stars that can manage to get people to order the PPV in bad matchups.

Primetime isn't big, but what Team Khan were asking for in being on Sky Sports 1 or 2 is not unreasonable. Sky Sports 1 has the Barcelona-Real Madrid game which it makes no sense to push around. Sky Sports 2 however is showing a replay of a game played 5 hours earlier. That could much easier be shifted to Sky Sports 3 which has the lowest viewing numbers of all the Sky Sports channels. Not to mention many homes choose to pick up the SS1 & 2 package, because Sky Sports 3 invariably only has Golf & the odd game of Darts on.

Sky have made a quite frankly bizarre decision. Those buying the fight would have done so for Khan. They've basically appeased those who would likely have streamed the fight. What it all depends on now is if Khan's people are willing to promote the fact the fight is on Primetime. One thing that won't change is that anyone who goes to book the fight on Saturday, will go to either Sky Box Office or Virgin On Demand & will find the PPV in the live events folder. He's missing out on some audience, but then it's a gamble of whether he will make more than the 100k he would have got on SS3.

Anyone who has Sky can still get this fight. Anyone who has Virgin can still get this fight. The only people who can't are people who have BT Vision or freeview. Neither gets Sky Box Office, and BT Vision gets only Sky Sports 1 & 2. So he's not missing out on viewers on that front. What he does miss out on is the promotion he gets on Sky, but it depends how much they'd do in the last week.

It also boils down to the fact that Sky would rather have a recorded football match on a premier channel than Khan-McCloskey. If I was Khan I'd feel pretty affronted by that. To me by asking for that & then going to ITV (which has full national coverage), it seems Team Khan's first thought was on exposure rather than money. Then when they couldn't get that, they've gambled that they will make more from Primetime's PPV than the 100k Khan himself would get from SS3.

He's in no way throwing away his career. Shit, as long as he's got HBO behind him, he's laughing.

[Master]

Did not realise he went to ITV, hell he should have given the fight for free to BBC. Either way I blame Hatton for being a crap promoter.

[Mars_ax]

I take it that McCloskey is just some 'can that's suppose to be an easy night for Khan, wouldn't it be hilarious if McCloskey did a 'Prescott' on Khan's pansy ass.

[boxingbantz]

I take it that McCloskey is just some 'can that's suppose to be an easy night for Khan, wouldn't it be hilarious if McCloskey did a 'Prescott' on Khan's pansy ass.

If Khan can take flush shots from Maidana, I'm pretty certain Khan will be able to take one of McCloskey's. Saying that, I hope it happens.

[GuyIncognito76]

Khan went PPV after Frank Warren said it was the only way he could get him the money he was asking for.

Eventually, of course, even Frank couldn't get Khan the money he wanted so they split.

All the early Khan fights that were on PPV should've been on normal TV (I included Sky Sports in that) and I didn't buy any of them; in fact the only Khan fight I thought was worth paying for was Maidana, and I won't pay again unless he fights Timothy Bradley.