WarnerMedia says it has secured the rights for a pay-per-view event it is promoting as “The Match.” It will be 18 holes between Woods and Mickelson held Thanksgiving weekend at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The winner will receive $9 million.
Grainy video, errors and buffering streams weren’t what fans paid $99 to see, according to the class-action lawsuit.
Exclusives
It appears the restraining order Showtime obtained earlier this month from a federal court against websites that had advertised they would make the pay-per-view Mayweather-McGregor bout available for free was effective. Legitimate video distributors charged $100 to buy the event in HD. But the far more widespread theft of Saturday night’s boxing match took place through the use of a software program and “add-on” apps that consumers worldwide are now using steal programming, channelsFlo and content of all kinds.
The main exhibition did not begin until after midnight on the east coast, and Floyd Mayweather said afterwards the combatants deliberately waited in their dressing rooms because of the widespread problems fans were having ordering the pay per-view program.
Ratings for the brutal mixed martial arts league have steadily risen and so has its appeal to sponsors. It still attracts only certain advertisers, however, who are after men 18-34.
Boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquio are each known to pack a hard punch, but their fists have managed to break something else. Initial reports from distributors indicate that the event generated more than 4.4 million U.S. buys and more than $400 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue alone. The event is expected to generate in excess of $500 million in gross worldwide receipts, when additional revenue from the live gate at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, international television distribution, sponsorships, closed circuit and merchandise sales are tallied.
Strong pay-per-view demand for Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas caused problems for cable and satellite systems, especially when people tried to order at the last second, which delayed the start of the fight. It’s another sting to the reputation of an industry that’s already beset with criticism over poor service and competition from streaming video providers.
HBO and Showtime are banding together for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout, which is expected to set a record for revenue.
