Two sites that "had promised to live-stream this weekend’s boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao -- and were sued for copyright infringement by HBO and Showtime Networks -- have stripped all fight-related content from the web," according to Todd Spangler of VARIETY. The law firm representing both cable nets, as well as Mayweather Promotions and Top Rank, said that BoxingHD.net and Sportship.org as of yesterday morning "had substantially removed all references to the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight." Sportship.org later in the day "appeared to be not loading at all" (VARIETY.com, 4/29). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted PPV providers are "selling Saturday night's fight for between $89 and $100," and no online streaming "has been authorized by the content owners." BoxingHD.net, which the lawsuit alleged "offered a link on its home page to watch the fight for free, was no longer online" as of yesterday afternoon. The lawsuit alleged that the site "had illegally archived video of previous fights," including Mayweather's bout against Robert Guerrero from July '14. HBO Senior VP/Sports Operations & PPV Mark Taffet "would not specifically talk about HBO's and Showtime's efforts to cut down on piracy on fight night." But sources said that it will "likely be the largest anti-piracy effort in sports history." Meanwhile, Taffet would not give specific PPV numbers, but said that a "national effort by HBO and Showtime to get people to order the fight before Saturday night has paid off" (ESPN.com, 4/29).
EYES OF THE WORLD: ESPN.com's Dan Rafael wrote the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is "widely considered a lock to shatter the pay-per-view record" of 2.48 million units generated by Mayweather’s victory against Oscar De La Hoya in '07. Taffet said, "With Mayweather's strongest markets in the eastern half of the country and Pacquiao's strength in the west, their combined 27.9 million buys and $1.6 billion in revenues create the perfect pay-per-view storm." Rafael noted Mayweather holds records for both PPV buys and revenue. His '13 fight against Canelo Alvarez "did 2.2 million PPV buys," fewer than the '07 fight against De La Hoya, but set the revenue record at $153M "because the price of the PPV was higher" (ESPN.com, 4/29). Meanwhile, in Providence, Bill Reynolds writes boxing on PPV "makes the fighters rich but it really doesn't grow the sport" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 4/30).
