In the current issue of VARIETY, J. Max Robins floats a
reason for why Viacom, owner of Showtime, would allow Don King to
move the November 4 Tyson-Mathis fight from PPV to Fox, and it
involves TCI Chair John Malone. TCI, in a partnership with Fox
parent News Corp., owns Request TV, the U.S.'s largest PPV
distributor which had the rights to Bowe-Holyfield, scheduled for
the same November 4 date. Robins writes, "So Request TV is off
the hook on what could have been a losing proposition. Viacom
brass knew Malone wanted the Tyson-Fox deal to happen. Moreover
TCI has a deal pending to buy Viacom's cable systems for $2.25
billion, in addition to a raft of other unfinished business the
companies have to complete." One "industry insider": "Viacom
wants to make nice with Malone these days and he wanted the fight
to go to Fox. It was worth it (to Viacom) to take the financial
hit to make other things it has going with Malone work" (VARIETY,
9/18-24 issue).
"WAR ON THE FLOOR": TV SPORTSFILE's Barry Gould predicts
the Shaquille O'Neal/Hakeem Olajuwon PPV event on September 30
will draw between 150,000-200,000 buys, up from 50,000 for a '92
Kareem-Dr. J event (USA TODAY, 9/20).
