Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

I thought that! I reckon Cleverly won it by a round so happy with the result

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

i agree crazy scoring , i think bellow pipped it , do you think we will ever get boxnation on virgin , its driving me crazy .

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

Well that's the second live British broadcast from Box Nation, Appleby Vs. Walsh being the first, and yet again we have been delivered with a British fight of the year contender.... well it'll be in the top 5 anyway.

I have to say that I'm disgusted that this fight, and Box Nation isn't on Virgin yet. I don't care who's to blame, just get it sorted. Boxing is not a niche sport and this is not a niche channel. Here's some viewing figures to give you an idea of where boxing actually stands in the world of televised sport.

BOXING

Tyson Fury Vs. Dereck Chisora - Channel 5 2011 - 3,000,000 viewers

Amir Khan Vs. David Bailey - ITV 2005 - 6,300,000 viewers

Danny Williams Vs. Audley Harrison - ITV 2008 - 8,000,000 viewers

OTHER SPORT

Andy Murray Vs. Ivan Ljubicic Wimbledon - BBC 2011 - 8,800,000 viewers

Man City Vs. Stoke FA Cup Final - ITV 2011 - 8,100,000 viewers

Barcelona Vs. Manchester United Champions League Final - ITV 2011 - 11,100,000 viewers

England Vs. Wales 6 Nations - BBC 2011 - 8,200,000 viewers

Formula 1 (Average figures for whole season) - BBC 2011 - 5,800,000

Now you'll see that boxing fairs reasonably well however please remember the viewing figures I've provided aren't for major fights. They are domestic level only. Imagine what Cleverly Vs. Bellew would have attracted on ITV Saturday Night primetime if promoted properly.

Virgin have 4,000,000 TV customers. Here's a little fact for you, the average UK household has 2.5 occupants which means Virgin TV services actually reach roughly, very roughly, 10,000,000 people. That's 10,000,000 people being denied the opportunity to watch Box Nation. Sure in reality 10,000,000 wouldn't have watched the action, but we'll never know until the channel arrives.

So whatever the problem is between Virgin and BoxNation please resolve it ASAP. British sports fans are being deprived of one of the most popular sports on TV. I'll tell you what, there would be murder if this was another sport. Remember the disgust and outrage when that online streaming company purchased the rights to Ukraine Vs. England? When people realised the game wouldn't be on SKY, or terrestrial TV, they went mental. The story actually made the news and the front page of some newspapers. The Box Nation situation with Virgin to me is the same as Ukraine Vs. England.

---------- Post added at 00:57 ---------- Previous post was at 00:49 ----------

For anyone that's still awake, it looks like Bernard Hopkins Vs. Chad Dawson will be streamed at BoxNation too:

http://boxnation.tv/live.php

I think the show starts at 1am however the main event won't be on until about 3:30am.

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

But all those viewing figures are for free to view fights, pay per view figures(which is what box nation will be in a few weeks) are far short of those. The amir Khan world championship fight on sky box office was 30,000 viewers, and one of the reasons sky have stopped doing pay per view boxing. Actually Frank Warren says its 100,000 so its definitely between 30,000 and 100,000 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/BN08/detail.asp?id=1215

So I'm sorry Chad, as I love boxing, it is a minority sport. Much that I would like Virgin to carry it, as long as it was free;)

Regards

John

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

That's right John, I used free to air figures for all the other sports too. I was trying to make the case for boxing being very popular when head to head against other popular sports on terrestrial TV. If it's free, as it currently is on Box Nation, people will watch boxing and viewing figures can and will rival any sport. Take most sports to a pay model and it doesn't do too well.

Remember this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PremPlus

At one stage less than 30,000 SKY customers had Prem Plus. Does that make football a minority sport?

In fact unless it's a big fixture like Liverpool Vs. Manchester United, Premiership games on SKY struggle to break 1,000,000 viewers. This is a sport that SKY spend billions on.

http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weekly-...mmes-overview?

Ricky Hatton Vs. Floyd Mayweather still holds the record for PPV in the UK at 1.2 million sales. What other sport, being broadcast live between 2am to 5am in the morning, would ever attract 1.2 million sales on a PPV basis? As posted above, SKY struggle to get this amount of viewers on some of their Monday Night and Super Sunday fixtures.

I don't agree with you John, boxing is far from a minority sport. What sports do you have ahead of boxing and what sports do you have on a par with boxing? Also think would any of those sports ever attract any real PPV audience?

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

I fear this channel may be very low down the priority list , however that's just my opinion , it would make a nice addition if added though.

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

I think well promoted free to air fights have more of an "event" feel about them which artificially bumps the audience figures. People can dip in and out of formula one, for example, which I assume suffers the time shift factor for some of the races in Asia etc. Also, the football matches you mentioned were both televised simultaneously on pay tv stations, and so the actual viewing figures are probably greater than those you've posted. Wimbledon is part of British tradition-no broadcaster puts the same sort of effort into the other majors.

I agree that boxing is no "minority" sport, especially compared with tennis, but I don't think it has the majority appeal, especially over a period of time-like a season of motor racing or football, that will ever see it considered as anything other than "niche" by virgin.

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

no dissrespect but i hope your wrong , did anyone see the b-hop fight , what happened ?

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

Virgin already carry:

Cinemoi - £6.99 a month

Disney Cinemagic - £5.00 a month

Baby TV - £3.50 a month

Manchester United TV - £6.00 a month

Playboy TV - £11.00 a month

The Adult Channel - £11.00 a month

Television X - £11.00 a month

If Virgin feel Box Nation is more niche than any of the above channels then I'll be both shocked and disappointed. The day that Virgin give priority to a French movie channel, or children's channel aimed at 0-3 year olds, ahead of a Box Nation is the day we all need to ask what is going on in their heads. Just my opinion really but just how popular is MUTV outwith Man United fans? BARB shows MUTV gets 33,000 viewers per day, the majority of which will undoubtedly have SKY. I'm guessing about 10,000 people subscribe to MUTV via Virgin.

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

I would be shocked as well

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

So where is Premier Sports a channel what carries numerous sports ?

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

I think the reason is because Virgin Media want in the XL pack

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

And your source for this is ?

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

A hunch

Re: BoxNation on Virgin Media?
 

Exactly the same question I've been asking for 16 months.

I suppose the problem with Premier Sports is whilst it carries plenty of sports, it doesn't really have too many crown jewels. They admit themselves on their website "Premier Sports was formed in 2010 to primarily facilitate the broadcasting of sports events that have been ignored by other broadcasters but have a very strong core following. Currently we focus on Blue Square Conference Football.....".

Premier Sports announced on Facebook in April 2011 that the company had failed to attract enough viewers to its Conference football broadcasts to share any revenue with the clubs beyond the £5,000 broadcast fee paid to home clubs and £1,000 to away clubs. "It is a shame the number did not reach the point where revenue sharing became an option," said a Premier Sports spokesperson on its Facebook discussion board.

So are Premier Sports just deluding themselves? The Blue Square deal was one of their first however clearly they over estimated how much of strong core following the competition has. There is a reason why other broadcasters are ignoring these competitions, they just aren't mainstream enough. If they aren't already on SKY Sports, ESPN, ESPN America, Eurosport, BBC, ITV and Channel 5 there will be a pretty good reason.

Blue Square Conference, Swedish Speedway, Cage Warriors, Brisca F1, NRL are sports that fans of those particular competitions will watch but don't have mass appeal. Premier Sports really need something like UFC, NFL or the Europa League to be considered main stream.

Box Nation on the other hand will be showing the best boxing action, featuring the biggest names in the sport, from the UK and world wide. No other channel in the UK, including SKY Sports, will be showing the same amount of live shows as Box Nation. Box Nation will be showcasing the best action and talent each and every week. So unlike Premier Sports, Box Nation will be the clear leader in the content it broadcasts.

I think the problem for Premier Sports and Box Nation is the Virgin model doesn't suit their needs. I would however really like someone from either Virgin or Box Nation to come out and clarify what is happening. If no deal can be done, tell us.

---------- Post added at 12:41 ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 ----------

It was crazy. In round 2 Hopkins leaned on Dawson. Dawson kind of shoved / shrugged Hopkins off and Hopkins landed on his back. Hopkins was rolling around on the floor holding his shoulder. The fight got called off. The fans, and Chad Dawson were furious. The referee however decided no foul had taken place, it was a TKO. Dawson picked up the win and becomes new WBC and Ring Magazine champion.