Showtime head takes issue with Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearn pay-per-view comments

Stephen Espinoza Showtime

STEPHEN ESPINOZA, the president of Showtime Sports, has taken issue with Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearnโ€™s 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, โ€œLook, on the concept of PPV weโ€™ve consistently said that itโ€™s a useful tool when itโ€™s necessary, when you have a premium event. If youโ€™ve got a filet mignon event, youโ€™re going to have filet mignon prices.ย You donโ€™t get filet mignon at the price of ground beef.

โ€œI didnโ€™t 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.

โ€œLikewise, 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 weโ€™ve done in the last three years.

โ€œI think a lot of the blowback and the negativity around PPV comes when networks are trying to sell people PPVsย that donโ€™t belong there.โ€

He added, โ€œSo, I understand what Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya are saying.ย Itโ€™s a great marketing ploy and thatโ€™s 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.

โ€œEddieย on one hand will say that theyโ€™re are terribleย thingย and theyโ€™re dead, but if we look at his UK business itโ€™s basically all built on PPV.

โ€œOscar himself while heโ€™s saying that boxing PPVs are dead is simultaneously selling an MMA PPV. So, the reality is, itโ€™s a useful tool.ย  It rewards the fighters for taking tough fights and it allows some fights to happen that wouldnโ€™t otherwise happen without that tool.ย But it should be used sparingly.โ€

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