There is “a lot of behind-the-scenes jockeying” for the vacant HBO Sports President job after Ross Greenburg's departure, according to Kevin Iole of YAHOO SPORTS. HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo likely will "handle the post on an interim basis," with HBO Sports Senior VP/Programming Kery Davis "remaining onboard for the time being as his chief lieutenant." Some boxing writers expect Davis “to be let go any day now in light of Greenburg’s departure,” but Iole reported he is unlikely "to leave in the short term.” It is "not HBO’s style to totally vaporize a department and it will need continuity as it hunts for Greenburg’s successor.” Boxing promoter Lou DiBella, who once held Davis’ job, would be “the natural choice to succeed Greenburg.” But DiBella “has little chance to get the job because he lost his temper and cursed” at current HBO Chair & CEO Bill Nelson and then-HBO Chair & CEO Jeff Bewkes, now Chair & CEO of Time Warner, “during a budget meeting when he was still with the network.” The next HBO Sports President "will, almost by default, assume the mantle that Greenburg held as boxing’s most powerful person, because there is no one else out there with both the money and the interest in televising big-time boxing" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/19). DAILY VARIETY’s Stuart Levine noted Lombardo and HBO co-President Richard Plepler “are left to contemplate who will replace Greenburg.” The search “will be extensive and likely take months rather than weeks, with a strong emphasis on looking outside the company, possibly from a competing network such as ESPN.” HBO, which televises more than 20 boxing events a year and “very much wants to stay in that business, might consider having a pair of execs run sports: One could handle boxing while someone else tends to the rest of the slate” (VARIETY.com, 7/19). In Las Vegas, Steve Carp writes under the header, “Greenburg’s HBO Resignation Sure To Have Impact On Boxing” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/20).
CHANGES FOR UFC: YAHOO SPORTS’ Iole reported Zuffa LLC's negotiations for a new UFC TV deal with Spike TV "aren't going smoothly." While there "will probably be a new deal announced before much longer," UFC President Dana White also “is working on a new television" contract with another partner. UFC is “going to expand its television presence and that is where things will get interesting.” UFC is “a pay-per-view company as it stands now,” but “things may … be moving more toward the middle, where there is more product put on cable and potentially over-the-air television and some fight cards that had been on” PPV will be broadcast on television. Iole reported the UFC’s new TV deal “is not going to include HBO, despite the recent resignation” of Greenburg. HBO is “only in around 30 million homes, while a network like Spike is in more than 90 million.” Unless Zuffa “works a deal with Time Warner to include programming on Turner Broadcasting, which has TNT and TBS among its networks, the UFC won’t likely appear on HBO.” UFC co-Chair & CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said he is talking “to all the major media players out there.” While the “biggest fights are going to remain” on PPV, look for a “multi-platform approach on the next deal that puts more free bouts on television.” Fertitta said that UFC “has a desperate need for more outlets because of the number of fighters it has under contract” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/19).
