Perform Group, the sports media group owned by Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, "struck" an eight-year, $1B deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to stream a series of fights on a new U.S. subscription service, according to Matthew Garrahan of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The company recently hit a £3B ($4B) valuation when it sold a 10% stake to Japanese advertising group Dentsu for £300M ($406M). Perform’s DAZN streaming service is available in Japan, Germany and Canada, where it screens a "range of sports live and on-demand," but it will use the Matchroom deal to drive U.S. subscribers. Matchroom, which is "responsible for much of boxing’s recent growth" in the U.K., with marquee fighters such as Anthony Joshua, Kell Brook and Tony Bellew, would stage 16 fights a year, the companies said. Perform CEO Simon Denyer said that the company "would acquire the rights" to other U.S. sports. He added that the pay-per-view market for boxing in the U.S. "isn't working any more." Denyer: "It's been declining and the way pay-per-view operators have dealt with it has been to put up the price of the fights. A big fight could cost $90-$100. the economics have killed it for the boxing fan" (FT, 5/11).
