Exclusive - Head of Primetime TV on Froch-Kessler show and future developments

The next broadcast on Primetime TV is without doubt a potential fight of the year – Carl Froch v Mikkel Kessler for the WBC world title, screened live from Herning, Denmark on 24th April 2010. Froch, who has prevailed over genuine world class opponents such as Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell in his last three outings, has a chance to further augment his legacy against the Viking Warrior, Kessler.

In the following interview with Head of Primetime TV, David McConachie, there are a number of interesting exclusives:

Primetime TV have secured rights to broadcast the upcoming World super-bantamweight title fight between Wilfredo Vazquez Jr and Zsolt Bedak.

Primetime TV will provide a live studio in London with Andy Kerr (see short interview with Kerr below) and Darren Barker for the Froch-Kessler fight.

Primetime TV will provide their own commentary team of John Rawling and Duke McKenzie for the Froch-Kessler fight.

Primetime TV has also secured one live MMA show, which is scheduled to be broadcast in May.

There will be free fights on Primetime TV next week including Wilfredo Vazquez Jr v Marvin Sonsona.

Improvements to Primetime TV’s platforms have increased their market reach by 67%.

In addition to all of this, David McConachie revealed that Primetime TV are currently in the midst of further negotiations to bring in more live boxing shows and remain committed to showing all Super Six bouts, subject to further agreements with Mick Hennessy. David McConachie, a lifelong boxing fan, shares insights into Primetime TV’s business model and reveals that a boxing ‘season ticket’ is still a live possibility in the future.

Have you viewed the performance of Primetime TV a success since it was formed six months ago, i.e. in terms of viewing figures etc?

“Yeah – we have. We are still ‘trial and erroring’ if you like. We have been picking up fights from the UK, some of them in the middle of the night, and we have actually been really encouraged by the sales that we have been getting – which are great. It shows that there is a decent fight fan base out there and paying to watch fights ad hoc. Some fights won’t appeal to them, well they are not having to pay subscription fees – so they can just jump in and watch that.

“Yeah, we have been really encouraged. But the biggest development for us is that we have now got the atomisation process, which is kind of the same as that used by Sky Box Office – meaning that it is a lot easier for people to order. We had some teething problems for the first Froch fight back in October and now it is very, very simple. If you are a registered Primetime subscriber, you literally just go onto the channel and press the red button and buy it – just press select and enter your pin number. So it has become much more accessible to a lot of people and of course, Virgin are carrying our bigger fights. It means Virgin customers have a chance to see this rather than go online. So there have been a lot of developments. We have not been hyperactive in the boxing space – we have bid for some fights which we have managed to get. We will continue to pursue and look for great fights for fight fans."

So, the Froch-Kessler fight is on TV (via both Sky and Virgin Platforms) and available for UK and Ireland residents, it is available as an online stream. I also, noticed on your website that there is no need to hook up a television line to your Sky box – if you want to order the fight.

“It’s so much better, it is totally different. Because of all of these different changes, I think we have improved our reach by something like 67% - meaning 67% more people can now access these fights. It is great news for us and it is great news for the likes of Carl Froch – because obviously it means better revenues”.

The upcoming Froch-Kessler fight is probably the fight of the year involving a British boxer, can you reveal more details on Primetime’s presentation. i.e. what undercard fights will be shown live, start and finish time of programme and the commentary set-up etc.?

“Yeah, we are still waiting for full undercard information but we will be showing all of the main undercard fights. We go on air at 9pm. We are just waiting for Scandinavian TV to finalise the start time of the main event.

“The presentation for us – we will have Andy Kerr in the studio (in London) and Darren Barker will be alongside him. John Rawling will be doing the commentary with Duke McKenzie”.

Going forward, obviously the big one is Abraham v Froch – is there any development there or are you still in negotiations?

“All the negotiations are with Mick Hennessy – the UK rights holder. We remain committed to showing all of the Super Six and their events moving forward [Writer's note: the other Super Six fights have not yet been confirmed – this is subject to further agreement wit Mick Hennessy]”.

The last time I spoke to you, you were toying with idea of a ‘season ticket’ for boxing on Primetime. Have had any more thoughts on this?

“We are still very much looking at it. We have been gathering data and we want to know how a Klitschko will perform in a fight from Germany on Primetime on a Saturday night. We want to know how good world title fights will perform - that are taking place at 3am or 4am in the UK. At the moment we are just looking at the market – seeing what works and what doesn’t work. And from that we are going to be able to work out whether a season ticket will work. A season ticket presents a whole load of new complications because theoretically we are no longer a pay-per-view channel – we are a pay TV channel. With pay-per-view, you don’t have to splash out huge amounts of money to get the fights because promoters are on a revenue share. What that means is that we don’t have the danger that Setanta had – which is that we are not over spending and we are not going to run out of cash because we have got a nice, simple business model.

“As soon as we switch to season ticket we have to buy the fights – which is obviously a different proposition altogether. So, it is something that is very much at the front of our mind. I can’t say, either way, whether we would do that – but we are certainly considering it. We need a bit more time to grow and develop and see what works for us as a business”.

Is there anything else you would like to say to Primetime viewers about the upcoming Froch-Kessler fight about Primetime TV in general?

“We have noticed that we have been getting very positive comments on the forums (boxing forums) recently – which wasn’t really the case when we first started. I think as a pay-per-view channel you can come under criticism for putting out lots of fights – pay-per-view. But, what we have really tried to do is offer as many fights as we can to the fight fan and we are letting them make the choice of what they want to watch and what they don’t want to watch. We are not competing with Sky. Sky are showing lots of fights – they show the big fights. We are sort of supplementary to Sky Sports.

“For fight fans, hopefully we are doing stuff that is pleasing them and we have got some good stuff coming up. We have got the Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (against Zsolt Bedak) world title fight on May 29th and he has been looking very good recently. So, we are looking forward to doing that. Unfortunately, the American fights are on at the middle of the night – which kind of makes it tough to stay up. We will also be doing some Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) shortly as well."

So, apart from Froch-Kessler, what other fights have you got confirmed?

“We have got the Wilfredo Vazquez Jr fight and we are in negotiations for a number of other fights but I can’t really say at this stage – because the truth is we don’t know. We have got two events in May – one is MMA and one is boxing (Wilfredo Vazquez Jr fight) and we will be on the look out for more.

“We are very pleased. Interestingly enough, when Manny Pacquiao fought the other week we had several hundred phone calls to our call centre that night and obviously we didn’t have the fight. So, I think people are starting to recognise Primetime as a boxing destination.

“We are also going to be running some free fights next week and among them will be Wilfredo Vazquez Jr’s last fight against Marvin Sonsona – in which Vazquez was looking great. So next week if you look at the Primetime TV schedules – you will see some free fights – which are a kind of ‘thank you’ to fight fans. And, you know, when we can get stuff for free – we will stick it out for free”.

Reaction from TV’s Andy Kerr

I also had a quick chat with Andy Kerr, who will be anchoring the Primetime TV broadcast of Froch-Kessler from a studio in London. The last time I saw Kerr on a British TV screen was when he was performing with aplomb his roving reporter role for Primetime’s inaugural broadcast for the Froch-Kessler fight in October last year.

So what has Kerr been up to since then?

“I’ve been doing quite a bit of football for Al Jazeera Sport recently. Presenting the world football show with Tottenham coach, Tim Sherwood and doing some pitch side reporting as well. They have been great to work for – you don’t realize how big they are until you see if for yourself. They have eight sports channels alone!”

And what else have you got planned, aside from your upcoming role in the Froch-Kessler Primetime broadcast?

“I’m going to South Africa in the summer to cover the World Cup with Al Jazeera. Other than that I have kept myself busy with a few days general sport for News at Ten and of course having a 15 month old daughter means you are never short of something to do!!”

And how does it feel to be back on Primetime covering another Froch world title fight?

“I’m delighted to be back working for Primetime again. This without doubt is the biggest of the year so far. The fact that Kessler lost his belt last time out almost makes it more exciting for me. He is an outstanding talent, he wasn’t the Super Six favourite for nothing and the way he lost to Andre Ward might make him even more dangerous."

And on working alongside Darren Barker in the studio, Andy said:

“Having Darren in the studio is great as he knows both men very well. I can’t wait for this one – I think it could be a classic and certainly very different to the Dirrell fight."

*Carl Froch v Mikkel Kessler 24th April 2010 will be broadcast live in the UK and Ireland from 9pm on Primetime Sky Channel 480 and Virgin On Demand.

Viewers must register before the event via the website

http://www.primetimelive.co.uk or sales line 0871 200 4444 and press select on Sky Channel 480 when they want to watch, If you’ve registered with Primetime before you can just press select on your remote control.

Virgin customers can buy through On Demand > Live Events. See channel 0 for more details.

Also streamed live on http://www.primetimelive.co.uk. See website for more details.