Good news/Bad news...
Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV Prices, Fee Split Resolved
By Edward Chaykovsky
According to the Wall Street Journal, a tentative agreement has been reached between HBO/Showtime and the pay-per-view distributers - with respect to the May 2nd mega-fight between welterweight champions Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
HBO (representing Pacquiao) and Showtime (representing Mayweather) are coming together to stage the highly anticipated pay-per-view event.
Last week, Dow Jones Business News reported that HBO/Showtime requested a 70-30 split from the pay-television distributors. The paper says typically the split for a pay-per-view event between distributors and programmers is around 50-50.
The HBO/Showtime offer of 70-30 was quickly rejected by providers. During that time period, there was little movement from either side.
"Everybody at some point will hopefully be rational and we'll be able to put our heads together and come up with a good solution. We're not there yet," it was said last week by Michael Berman, executive vice president and general counsel of iN Demand, which negotiates on behalf of big cable operators including Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc.
A little over a month before the fight, the two sides have come together. HBO/Showtime have reached an agreement with iN Demand - which negotiates on behalf of Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and other large cable companies, and with DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite TV operator with more than 20 million subscribers.
The WSJ reports that Mayweather-Pacquiao will cost $99 for a high-definition feed and $89 for standard definition, according to sources with knowledge of the agreement.
The pay-per-view revenue split appears to be falling in the range of 60-40, with HBO/Showtime gaining the larger share.
The other distributors that HBO/Showtime has yet to reach agreements with are Dish Network and Vubiquity, which handles negotiations for AT&T Inc. and other distributors.