Top Rank Chair Bob Arum said that based on early projections, he believes PPV buys from Saturday's Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout "would match or exceed the roughly 1.2 million buys for Pacquiao’s previous fight," a unanimous decision against Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13. In N.Y., Greg Bishop notes the PPV buys are "significant because the fight, distributed by Showtime Pay-Per-View, was promoted heavily by CBS, in what Arum viewed as the first step toward returning boxing to terrestrial television." Arum said that 1.4-1.5 million buys "would highlight the effect of the promotion on the buy rate." He said that he "expected to know the exact number by the end of the week" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/11).
IF YOU'VE GOT NOTHING NICE TO SAY...: Versus NHL analyst Jeremy Roenick on the net's postgame show following the Red Wings' 4-3 win over the Sharks in Game Four of their Western Conference Semifinal series Sunday night said Sharks LW Patrick Marleau turned in a "gutless, gutless performance." Roenick's comment was "an overnight Internet rage," but despite "considerable criticism from fans via Twitter and the hockey media, Roenick didn't backtrack an inch -- for almost 24 hours." Roenick Monday night said on Versus, "Gutless might have been the wrong choice of words, probably it was the wrong choice of words." Sharks TV announcer Randy Hahn tweeted, "Jeremy Roenick only cares about furthering his broadcasting career. His Marleau take was WAY over the line. Many bridges were burned" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 5/10).
FOX MAKING NEWS: FS Southwest will launch a new reality TV series this week to chronicle the start of the Univ. of Texas at San Antonio's inaugural football season. "UTSA Football: The Birth of a Program" will premiere on Saturday, with the first of six 30-minute episodes. The series will air on FS Southwest, FS Houston and FS Oklahoma. Meanwhile, the American Youth Soccer Organization has reached a multiyear sponsorship deal with Fox Soccer. AYSO and Fox Soccer will co-produce soccer-specific online programming, beginning with six webisodes featuring Fox Soccer analyst Kyle Martino. In addition, the net will air AYSO-specific commercials (THE DAILY).
