Sky Sports opens as the favorite "to secure the British broadcasting rights for the richest fight of all time," at roughly the same 1-3 odds at which the Las Vegas casinos are quoting Floyd Mayweather Jr. to win it, according to Jeff Powell of the London DAILY MAIL. But "when you are talking hundreds of millions of dollars and the two best pound-for-pound boxers in the world there are no foregone conclusions." And when it comes to a bidding war for Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, "nothing will come cheap" for U.K. viewers. The cost frame for screening rights in the U.K. on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas is expected to be £5M-£10M ($7.7M-$15M), "with Sky likely to start pitching" at £6M ($9M). But "the fiercer the competition the higher it could go," even though Mayweather and Pacquiao will not enter the ring much before 4am Sunday morning U.K. time. BT possesses "untold riches" and has not blinked at £10M per Premier League match. It also "kept significant cash in hand by shrewdly under-bidding Sky" while still expanding its package in that new deal. Mayweather-Pacquiao "will bring with it expensive advertising opportunities." Nor -- unlike BBC -- is ITV prohibited by its constitution "from charging pay-per-view." It has not gone down this road before but "what better way for them to take a first big step back into the big-time sports market?" And "what may the cost" for customers be? Sky, conscious of the scale of its monthly fees, is "deeply reluctant to raise any pay-per-view charge" above its historic £20 ($30) threshold. But however much one ends up "being asked to cough up, it will be peanuts compared with America." Showtime, which has Mayweather under contract, and HBO, which is Pacquiao’s paymaster, "are sharing the broadcast there" -- at an expected $99.95 a buy (DAILY MAIL, 2/23).
