Sky TV pulls plug on boxing venture

SKY ARENA organisers are confident the pay-per-view promotions company can survive a rebrand after losing the backing of Sky Television, its major financial partner.

On a weekend when Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao square off in Las Vegas in a projected $400 million blockbuster, the Sunday StarTimes can reveal Sky TV will revert back to an independent broadcast platform after a short-lived joint venture in which it promoted three boxing events thought to have collectively lost close to $800,000.

Arena, originally set up to screen live concerts and sporting events,hasn’t secured any further music agreements after initially showcasing Kiwi rockers Shihad.

Sky TV, which took a 75 per cent stake in Arena, also helped launch the Super8 boxing brand.

That Arena experiment is now over, with Sky selling all 9000 shares to John McRae, leaving the former Duco Events co-founder as the sole director of the rebranded VS Live Ltd.

‘‘Once Sky Arena became much more ring-orientated, it didn’t make sense for us to be in it anymore,’’ Sky TV chief executive John Fellet said.

The partnership created friction in New Zealand’s crowded payper-view market, Fellett suggested. It includes Duco, UFC, WWE, Shane Cameron’s former manager Ken Reinsfield, Sonny Bill Williams’ agent Khoder Nasser, Va’aiga Tuigamala and Justin Wallace, among others.

‘‘We didn’t feel comfortable being competitive with our partners so we thought it was better to slowly phase out of the business and let John run it 100 per cent.

‘‘If it looks like you’re promoting your fights more than others, there’s a natural resentment. I didn’t want that, even though I was sure we treated all the people equally.’’

To get a foot in the pay-per-view market, Arena shelled out half a million dollars in purses alone in its opening heavyweight boxing event in June last year to attract the likes of former world champion Hasim Rahman, who proved a big disappointment.

Sky Arena also paid Cameron and Kali Meehan handsome purses to headline their second event in November last year, and the most recent Super8 in Christchurch on March 28 suffered badly from the Cricket World Cup final involving New Zealand being played the next day.

Fellett said the decision to step away from Sky Arena was not financially driven.

‘‘In theory we lose quite a bit of money on the rugby. If you look at the advertising revenue and sponsorship, rugby loses us millions but it’s all part of the reason you subscribe.

‘‘If you’re in that business, you’ve got to rock and roll a little bit.’’