New boxing subscription channel ready to go

Frank Warren will announce tomorrow that his stable of fighters are moving from their long-time Sky Sports home to a channel which quietly popped up in July – BoxNation.

This development was not difficult to foresee given recent events : Frank Warren Promotions posting sizeable losses in their most recently filed accounts; the promoter’s insistence that PPV is necessary for big fights to be made; Sky Sports withdrawing from the PPV model in the wake of two disastrous ‘events’ featuring David Haye; and the fact that BoxNation has been showing free-to-air repeats of Warren bills. So, it hardly took Psychic Sally to predict this one.

What is both interesting and unexpected is that, as far as BoxRec News understands, the channel will not be a vehicle for PPV fights but will instead be run on a subscription model, pitched around the £10 a month mark.

We’ve also heard a whisper that the channel will remain free-to-air until November. How this squares up with the promoter’s planned October 15th bill featuring Nathan Cleverly v Tony Bellew and a James DeGale European title challenge is less clear – other than a Sky source saying no agreement has been reached for this bill to be broadcast by them.

Warren has apparently said that he will honour the rest of his contract with Sky – a handful of dates running into next summer. Again, that’s hard to square with the birth of BoxNation but given the size of the promoter’s stable, perhaps not impossible to fulfil.

Depending on the information imparted at a press conference tomorrow, it would be hard to imagine Sky’s lawyers not having a look at the fine print of their contract – unless it has been done with the broadcaster’s complicity, which is even harder to believe.

So, what should potential subscribers expect for their money?

BoxRec News understands that there is some attractive fare claimed to be on offer. Obviously Warren’s future bills will be on it (other than any used to fulfil his Sky obligations); there’s a supposed three-year deal with Sauerland; Hopkins v Dawson is in the offing plus the potential for some other US fights.

Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour is set to make a return and there are rumours of a talking heads programme, similar to Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement offering.

Apparently, there is a commitment to showing action twice a week, without running against other networks’ boxing output.

Less exciting for the boxing purist – but probably good news for the increasing amount of cross-over fans - is that MMA will get an airing.

Fight fans might hope that forum stirrings concerning Sky’s supposed lack of interest in boxing are pessimistic. A Sky source put a positive spin on these developments, saying Warren’s move “will obviously free up money and options for other things”.