HBO 'Getting out of Live Boxing'

[Beanz]

Thought from the Saddos across the pond ?

“Our mission at HBO Sports is to elevate the brand. We look for television projects that are high-profile, high-access, and highly ambitious in the stories they seek to tell and the quality of production in telling them.

Boxing has been part of our heritage for decades. During that time, the sport has undergone a transformation. It is now widely available on a host of networks and streaming services. There is more boxing than ever being televised and distributed. In some cases, this programming is very good. But from an entertainment point of view, it’s not unique.

Going forward in 2019, we will be pivoting away from programming live boxing on HBO. As always, we will remain open to looking at events that fit our programming mix. This could include boxing, just not for the foreseeable future.

We’re deeply indebted to the many courageous fighters whose careers we were privileged to cover.

There have been hundreds of dedicated and remarkably creative men and women who have delivered the best in television production for HBO’s coverage of boxing and we are so grateful for their contributions. It has been a wonderful journey chronicling the careers and backstories of so many spectacularly talented prizefighters.

We are a storytelling platform. The future will see unscripted series, long-form documentary films, reality programming, sports journalism, event specials and more unique standout content from HBO Sports.

We are constantly evaluating our programming to determine what resonates with our subscribers. Our audience research clearly shows the type of programming our subscribers embrace. For HBO Sports, it’s programming that viewers can’t find elsewhere.

In keeping with this mission, we’ve accelerated our commitment to storytelling. This has produced landmark shows like “Andre the Giant,” which is the most viewed sports documentary ever on HBO; the acclaimed NFL reality franchise “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Cleveland Browns,” which delivered double-digit viewership gains from a year ago; “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel,” the gold standard in sports journalism on television; the powerful docu-series “Being Serena” that chronicled the comeback of tennis icon Serena Williams; and the acclaimed unfiltered talk series “The Shop” featuring LeBron James.

This fall, HBO Sports will present an edition of “24/7” highlighting the upcoming Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson match play plus engaging documentary films like “Student Athlete” and “Momentum Generation” brought to us by accomplished filmmakers. In 2019, we will have the innovative multi-part documentary presentation “What’s My Name|Muhammad Ali” from director Antoine Fuqua in conjunction with executive producers LeBron James and Maverick Carter of SpringHill Entertainment.

Other new ventures will be announced in the weeks ahead as HBO Sports continues to explore new frontiers in sports programming.”

https://awfulannouncing.com/boxing/h...-45-years.html

[Master]

What a long winded way of saying we will not be showing boxing any longer.

They have been dis-investing for some time so this is no surprise.

Tyson was their mainstay and made them big. Shame.

[p4pking]

This writing was on the wall for years, I believe that canelo and ggg were the very last top fighters to have any kind of deal with hbo anyways?? Top rank cut ties with them way back, haymon/pbc were always with showtime, Hearns in the US now with a massive platform, more and more people stream everything in general, etc. This might also mean we never have to listen to lampley or kellerman again? Fine with me.

[Kirkland Laing]

Larry Merchant will be giggling at Kellerman being out on his ear. Kellerman only got the job because his parents are well connected in the NY TV/creative world.

It's been coming for a while. I think they'll still be in the market if ever there's a massive PPV event but otherwise that's it. You've got Haymon and Showtime/Fox and Arum with ESPN and whatever the hell this Hearn/streaming thing ends up being. I wonder what Fishnets is going to do with Alvarez. Surely it's worth HBO just doing two Cinco/Independence Day PPVs every year while Alvarez is selling so many PPvs?

[Spicoli]

Shame really but their heart and investment hasn't been in it for awhile. I love the irony after years of listening to many fans run on about "they're just ESPN types" and holding HBO up as some holy grail of being a star. Sure it was always a nice stage and great presentation with some awesome fights but it's espn expanding and it has always been the work horse bringing future..now current..major players into the home. Being honest I won't miss Lampley yelling for network fighters but do in a way will miss Kellerman who is sure to be scooped up by another platform-network. He can be annoying but of the guys on the mic he actually came in as a fan first all the way back to doing local public access shows and a great run on ESPN. The arguments debates with Teddy were superb .

[El Kabong]

As a fan, after watching and listening to GGG-Canelo II I say GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE!

Max Kellerman is a disgrace to the sports world.....not just to boxing but to the whole of the sports world. He got ESPN-ed. He has been in Connecticut too long and it's no longer about the actual game or match anymore as made clear in the GGG-Canelo II fight "The story of the fight"......The what of the what? This was boxing, not pro wrestling, it's not a fucking story going on that has to be narrated by that herpes infested jackass. He's gone full SJW and it's no longer about sports for him, quite clear....there's 0 need for NON sports bullshit to be ham handedly forced into sports. I'm fucking tired of it, I don't watch the NFL anymore, I don't watch college football anymore, I used to live for that sport and now it's dead to me. Boxing has enough troubles it doesn't need this bullshit.

Larry Merchant was an old hack, Jim Lampley is a drama queen, Roy Jones Jr is all too eager to see favorites fall.


I don't want announcers or color guys rooting for a fighter, just call the fucking fight talk strategy and let the fans do the cheering.


Boxing needs to get back to its roots. I wish someone like Dana White would make that happen, I loathe Dana White but you cannot second guess what he's done for UFC. We need widely available fights on the cheap for the fans and we need announcers who are about the sport and not what fucking narratives they can push.

[Alpha]

Sad, but we all saw this coming.

[powerpuncher]

I’m actually glad this is happening. TV is heading towards things like ESPN + and DAZN. The sooner it all switches over the better.

[Ron Swanson]

Good riddance, get all blatant racism out of the sport and let success be on merit.

[walrus]

I always enjoyed hbo boxing.

[TitoFan]

"Storytelling". Ahhh yes..... I much prefer to watch documentaries on Andre the Giant and Training Camp with the (cough) Cleveland Browns than boxing on HBO.

As Master said, a long-winded way of saying they're throwing in the towel on boxing.

Well the hell with them. I enjoyed watching HBO Boxing over the years, but like many above, found it hard to stomach the groveling of Lampley and Max for certain fighters.

I hope another network picks up the slack, because like some others have said, the enjoyment of watching a championship fight on the big screen with a bunch of buddies is unparalleled.

[Alpha]

HBOs production was always top notch, I hope many of the guys behind the scenes get picked up by other networks.

[mikeeod]

Hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for boxing. Showtime is going strong, so it likely isn’t the case, but I hate how the media have made boxing out as a barbaric sport. American football is headed in the same direction.

I was thinking about it the other day and there just isn’t the depth of fighters any more. Guys fight bums for their first 35 fights or so, and then take on a bump in competition and look like world beaters. I get hyped for a guy like Crawford and believe he is elite and then I look at the names he has beaten and realize- it’s a joke. Oscar, Shane Mosley, Sweet Pea, James Toney...etc., these guys fought way better competition before they were considered a top guy.

Hoping I’m just in a sour mood, but I just see the sport going down fast. Sorry for making this thread a downer. News caught me off guard and hit me hard.

[El Kabong]

HBOs production was always top notch, I hope many of the guys behind the scenes get picked up by other networks.

Oh absolutely! Those guys were the actual talent. Not the guys holding the microphones.

[J_Undisputed]

"boxing doesn't make us enough money anymore".... the problem is Game of thrones is coming to an end so i think alot of the new series are going to be hit or miss especially depending on revenue scale. The could have just killed much of the production and put boxing on the cinemax channels with a no frills approach.

I'll be glad to not to have to hear kellerman ramble on with his man crush for ward. Lampley interject imaginary punches to make it sound like there's more action than is actually happening... and Roy slip further down the abyss of company man. As for it being the end of boxing, it depends on the fans. Not buying the whole feed thing as the future of boxing. I'm sure as hell not plunking down an extra monthly fee to watch mediocre fights, dodgy decisions, absent press tours (because the fighters are really really mad at each other so there's no need to promote.) So i'll watch showtime because i have it anyway but if its not on there, its free stream or bust for me.

Arum combining his library with espn is not a bad idea, when you consider half the new fights will be eh... and you'll need to watch old fights to get your moneys worth out of the subscription.