Primetime TV offer UK fans Kessler v Ward
BoxRec News correspondent, Brendan Galbraith, chats to the Head of Primetime TV, David McConachie, in a follow-up interview on Primetime’s developments in relation to bringing top boxing fights to British fight fans. The recently announced Kessler-Ward fight, at a reduced price of £5.95, will be the second consecutive Super Six fight that Primetime have secured – offering choice to the British boxing fan.
The crowning of Britain’s new WBA heavyweight champion, David Haye, has put boxing back in the media spotlight and “made David Haye an overnight sensation”. This development seems to have buoyed Primetime executive, David McConachie, and hopefully with bigger lead times and increased marketing, Britain’s sole representative in the Super Six – world champion Carl Froch will be able to replicate Haye’s success – and ignite the interest of the wider British public. Hence, it is very much of a case of well-founded optimism - "one wave will lift all boats". Let’s hope so. If anyone deserves more credit and recognition it is Carl Froch – particularly with the three tough world title fights that he has already prevailed in – Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell.
In our interview, David is very optimistic about British boxing, Primetime’s future plans and reveals further details on their coverage of the exciting, upcoming Ward-Kessler world title fight.
David, could we begin with an update on your next show on Primetime TV?
We have just announced that we are showing the Kessler-Ward fight. We don’t expect any great numbers to be honest, but whilst we can deliver fights cost effectively – the real hardcore fan will have an opportunity to watch these live. We are just trying to keep good boxing on the screens – but for us it is definitely not a money maker. It is just something for the hardcore fans.
Presumably, Ward-Kessler would be a nice build-up to the Froch-Kessler fight?
Exactly. It keeps the story going, which I think is important, it is quite a compelling fight as well. We obviously want to feature every Super Six fight that we can and this is the next one and we desperately wanted it and managed to get hold of it – which is great. So for those fans that are keen on following the Super Six – they are going to have an option of watching this – live or we will be repeating it – the following day.
Have you heard any news on the Froch-Kessler fight – i.e. whether it will be in Denmark or England?
No. I know that Mick [Hennessy] was keen to get it on at Nottingham Forest. I think at the moment [just from what I read and this is not inside information] it does seem to be favouring Copenhagen actually – I think they were expecting 50,000 people there. So, I think it would have to be quite a compelling reason for it not to be over there. I know that Mick would love to have it over here.
Any developments on Froch-Kessler rights?
No. That is something that will be ongoing. We will be sitting down very shortly – we have had some initial discussions about it and we really want to get hold of the fight and we want to start the PR with Carl as soon as possible and really get in the public eye. In the same way as David Haye, obviously – he has became an overnight sensation. And what is interesting for me is that newspapers are finally getting behind boxers. I actually thought Carl got some half-decent press compared to previous bouts. There was plenty of full page articles in the lead up to the last fight – so I think it is really encouraging for British boxing that there is a heavyweight champion – I think it just puts the sport back on the map. It is fantastic for the sport.
Any other developments – have other promoters been in contact with you about other boxing shows?
There have been plenty of people. At the moment [and as David expressed in his earlier interview with BoxRec News] it is trying work out the model here – what is going to work with the British boxing fan. We don’t want to dish up any old fight and charge for it – I know that they don’t like that – hence the reason – we are still looking at the viability of a season ticket – which will feature international boxing and possibly domestic boxing. That very much is something that I would like to see happen, but, we will have to wait and see. Beyond that, let’s be honest – a British title fight at the York Hall doesn’t really constitute a PPV event. It is the sort of event that people will expect to see for free or on a mainstream subscription channel.
Top Up TV, Virgin platform etc – will they be available for Ward-Kessler?
No. Not Ward-Kessler – I think definitely for all of the events we do next year. At the very least it will be on Virgin and hopefully TopTV as well. Again, that is not our fault – it is just a lengthy process to get on Virgin. With Sky – you do an application – Sky is an open platform and they kind of can't really say no – unless you are a hard core porn channel or extreme religious channel. Sky have to open themselves up to anybody – you could put BrendanTV on air! Virgin can pick and choose what they want. And they have confirmed that they want Primetime, but it does take a much, much longer timeframe to get on air – so that will be for next year.
So, to confirm Kessler-Ward fight will be on TV and a stream?
It will definitely be on a stream and TV. With the stream – it means that the Virgin subscribers or those with neither Virgin nor Sky – do have a chance to catch a stream and the stream did very well the last time.
Finally, the commentary for the Ward-Kessler – presumably that will be the Showtime commentary?
It will be a Showtime programme – just because of the basic economics of the thing here. We don’t expect huge numbers of subscribers – far from it. Financially, we cannot go all guns blazing with studios and things – because there will be a minority of people. Instead, we will deliver the high quality Showtime programme – which will obviously have Showtime pundits, commentary, features – it will be a great production. We are delivering the American production. The price is £5.95 – so we tried to keep it low.
Also, for those that registered for the last Froch-Dirrell fight – I think there is no registration process – they simply to go their remote control now and press select to choose it and buy – it is there – it is a much easier process now – once they become registered into the system.
The Andre Ward – Mikkel Kessler fight will be available as both an online live stream or on TV for Sky subscribers – Channel 480.
For further details on registering for this event:
http://www.primetimelive.co.uk/ or Call: 0871 200 4444
