STEPHEN ESPINOZA, the president of Showtime Sports, has taken issue with Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearnโs condemnations of pay-per-view in America. Hearn and De La Hoya both stage shows with DAZN, the streaming service with a subscription model of small monthly payments.
Espinoza pointed out, โLook, on the concept of PPV weโve consistently said that itโs a useful tool when itโs necessary, when you have a premium event. If youโve got a filet mignon event, youโre going to have filet mignon prices.ย You donโt get filet mignon at the price of ground beef.
โI didnโt hear too many people saying that Wilder versus Fury was not a premium event, a special event, a Heavyweight Title fight, an International Worldwide Title fight that deserved to be PPV.
โLikewise, on January 19 [Manny Pacquiao vs Adrien Broner] you have two of the biggest stars in the sport.ย Manny has a long history on PPV and the way this event was able to happen was through that tool.ย So these two events, plus Mayweather and McGregor, are the only PPVs weโve done in the last three years.
โI think a lot of the blowback and the negativity around PPV comes when networks are trying to sell people PPVsย that donโt belong there.โ
He added, โSo, I understand what Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya are saying.ย Itโs a great marketing ploy and thatโs really all it is is just a catchphrase because both of those guys rely on PPV and have relied on it as an integral part of their business in the past.
โEddieย on one hand will say that theyโre are terribleย thingย and theyโre dead, but if we look at his UK business itโs basically all built on PPV.
โOscar himself while heโs saying that boxing PPVs are dead is simultaneously selling an MMA PPV. So, the reality is, itโs a useful tool.ย It rewards the fighters for taking tough fights and it allows some fights to happen that wouldnโt otherwise happen without that tool.ย But it should be used sparingly.โ