NO HOLDS BARRED

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

On this edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman discusses the future of the most important business model and source of revenue currently used in combat sports like boxing and mixed martial arts: pay-per-view television.

Some might question whether this business model is in any real danger at present. UFC toppled the all-time annual pay-per-view TV revenue record by reportedly bringing in more than $200 million in 2006, while the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, held May 5, 2007, shattered all records for a single pay-per-view TV event in the U.S. by getting 2.15 million buys and $120 million in revenue.

We first speak about pay-per-view with Mark Taffet, senior vice president of sports operations and pay-per-view for HBO Sports, which distributed De La Hoya-Mayweather. We also got his comment on a possible HBO-UFC deal.

We next have a lengthy discussion with a critic of pay-per-view TV, boxing writer Jacqui Snow. She has her own web site and also serves as the moderator of the MySpace boxing group. She discusses the numerous problems with this model, including the growth of numerous web sites which stream these pay-per-views for free. Such sites, several of which she names, may be doing so in violation of copyright restrictions. However, similar to how the original Napster changed how music was distributed, these sites may also force a radical change in the business model of the combat sports.

She has written, "once the genie's out of the bottle, there's no forcing it back," and explains that point in depth. We also discuss how the Internet is actually saving boxing.

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, click here or here or here and just press the play button on the player. (Please note that if one of these sites has a technical problem, please use another one.) You can also listen to it through this blog and my MySpace page, also by pressing the play button on the player. (And if the player does not display the latest episode, please go directly here or here or here.)

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The NO HOLDS BARRED theme song is called "The Heist", by musician Ian Carpenter.

NO HOLDS BARRED is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

IFL, the International Fight League, the world's first professional mixed martial arts league. Make sure to check out their regular TV shows on FSN (Fox Sports Net) in the U.S. and to check your local listings for dates and times. You can also catch the IFL's newest show, "IFL Battleground", every Monday night on MyNetworkTV. An encore presentation will run each Saturday night. Check out the IFL web site, ifl.tv, for a listing of IFL live events and their TV schedule.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, HBO, Ian Carpenter, Jacqui Snow, Mark Taffet, mixed martial arts, MMA, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view, wrestling