TVKO REPORTS THAT LEWIS-HOLYFIELD SECURED 850,000 PPV BUYS

          HBO Sports' PPV arm TVKO "took a hit on the purchases"     of the Evander Holyfield-Lennox Lewis rematch, but "it was     not a knockout blow," according to Scott Hettrick of the     HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.  TVKO reported "about" 850,000 PPV buys     for Saturday's fight, with gross revenue at "about" $43.5M.      Although that was down about 26% in purchases and more than     27% in revenue from the first Holyfield-Lewis bout in March,     "industry observers had forecast, and TVKO had feared, that     the number of purchases could have dropped as low as     700,000."  Saturday's fight does "not rank among the top 10     fights of the 1990s" in PPV sales (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER,     11/17).  The fight had a "record" live gate of almost $16.9M     at the Thomas & Mack Center, as 17,078 tickets were sold.      The state of NV received $693,815 in taxes on "ticket sales,     licenses and fees for the card."  The state also received a     $50,000 fee from the PPV telecast (REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/17).