BOXING JUNKIE's Mike Coppinger noted Showtime yesterday "made a big splash" with the signing of heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua to a "multi-fight deal, beating competitor HBO to the punch." Joshua has "everything you could want in a star: good looks, charisma, and of course, talent." He has a "real chance to be the next face of boxing, and the partnership with Showtime will only serve to raise his profile stateside." He is already a "star in the U.K., where he headlines pay-per-view shows and routinely does around 500,000 buys." It is a "blow to HBO, who routinely has been the home of the best heavyweights" (BOXINGJUNKIE.com, 5/4).
TIME IS ON HER SIDE: Fox Sports National Networks President Jamie Horowitz said network personality Katie Nolan is "everything I want Fox Sports 1’s programming to be." Horowitz: "Period, end of statement. The thing with Katie is she’s incisive and insightful and she challenges the way viewers think. Katie Nolan is not an interesting woman. She’s just interesting. That’s the magic of it.” Horowitz: "When you look at a movie poster of FS1 a few years from now, you’re going to see Katie Nolan’s face on it" (GUARDIAN, 5/4).
STILL MOVING THE NEEDLE: BLOOMBERG NEWS' Gerry Smith noted Time Warner's Q1 earnings "far surpassed analysts’ estimates, proving there’s still plenty of life in the old model of using live sports to squeeze more revenue out of cable and satellite distributors." A 5% increase in advertising revenue helped the company's sales climb 7.2% to $2.91B from a year earlier. Time Warner's Turner channels have "spent billions on sports rights to give them leverage to demand higher affiliate fees." Those investments are now "paying off as cable and satellite providers pay up to avoid losing access to TNT and TBS" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/4).
