HBO Chair & CEO Richard Plepler appeared on PBS’ “Charlie Rose” last night and one of the topics discussed was the future of sports on HBO. Plepler said, “We have a long tradition of boxing; ‘Real Sports,’ which has been on 20 years hosted by Bryant Gumbel, which has won so many awards over time; 'Hard Knocks,’ which is our look inside an NFL training camp; documentaries that have crossed the spectrum of all sports. Sports have always been a vibrant part of the HBO brand." He said boxing is the "one sport that we can afford to play," and it has "always done very, very well for us and will continue to do that.” Plepler said one reason it took so long for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight to come together was because "each of the principals needed to want to get together more than we wanted them to get together." Plepler: "It's a little bit like Tom Friedman says about the Israelis and the Palestinians: They need to want the peace process as much as want the peace process.” Rose noted, “They didn't want it as much as you did.” Plepler said, “That's absolutely right." He said the May 2 fight is "not only going to be a great event for boxing, I think it's going to be a great event for sports” (“Charlie Rose,” PBS, 4/10).
