Primetime was a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

TV channel which broadcasts to the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel was available on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

channel 498 and through

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

's On Demand service. Primetime also offered live streams via their website.

History

Super Six World Boxing Classic

Primetime was launched in 2009 with the

Super Six World Boxing Classic The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a professional boxing tournament organized by the Showtime television network in co-operation with Sauerland Event. The tournament was held from 2009 to 2011, with all fights being contested in the super mi ...

. The first fight broadcast was a double bill of

Arthur Abraham Avetik Abrahamyan (; born 20 February 1980), best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the International Bo ...

vs.

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed champion in the middleweight division, having defeated Bernard Hopkins in 2005, and in doing s ...

and

Carl Froch Carl Martin Froch (; born 2 July 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple world championships in the super-middleweight division, i ...

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger brother Anthony Dirrell is also a professional boxer. Amateur career ...

live from the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham on 17 October 2009. A few viewers experienced technical difficulties on this first event and as such there were some customer complaints. Primetime went on to show all of the group stage one and group stage two events from the Super Six World Boxing Classic including Froch vs Kessler on 24 April 2010. This fight was nearly cancelled due to the Icelandic ash cloud.

Klitschko brothers

Through 2012 Primetime broadcast fights from both Klitschko brothers including

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

Eddie Chambers Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 200 ...

on 20 March 2010 and

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Shannon Briggs Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1992 and 2016. He held the lineal heavyweight title from 1997 to 1998, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title from 2006 to 2 ...

on 16 October 2010.

Golden Boy Promotions

On 16 April 2011, Primetime broadcast Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey. This began a relationship with

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Hist ...

and lead to the channel showing Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz.

Other promotion deals

Towards the end of 2011 Primetime also started working with

Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including M ...

showing

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...

Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez (born August 23, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from featherweight to light welte ...

for their third battle. Primetime continued their relationship with Top Rank by showing the Manny Pacquiao vs

Timothy Bradley Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) light welterweight titl ...

on 9 June 2012. Primetime broadcast the comeback fight of Ricky Hatton on 24 November 2012, providing the UK broadcast as well as providing the world feed of the event. Primetime previously broadcast live Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

football matches in a deal with

Sports Tonight Live Sports Tonight Live, branded simply as Sports Tonight, was a British television show and channel, owned by VISION247 based in Central London. It was launched online on 29 August 2011. On 15 October 2011, Sports Tonight Live began to broadcast ...

Closure

Primetime closed on 21 December 2013, just 4 days before

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

. Its license was transferred to the American religious broadcaster

SonLife Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist and gospel artist. Swaggart is one of the most well-known televangelists in America. During the 1980s, Swaggart's crusades were a major part of his ministry� ...

References

External links

* {{Boxing on television Pay-per-view television channels in the United Kingdom Sports television channels in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 2009 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2013 Defunct television channels in the United Kingdom Boxing on television