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 guid ...

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 surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

channel 498 and through

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

'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 ( hy, Ավետիք Աբրահամյան; 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 ...

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 middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, and ...

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 super-middleweight world championships, including the W ...

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger bro ...

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 uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

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 Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of Kyiv Shannon Briggs Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion, having held the lineal heavyweight championship from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs is known for ...

on 16 October 2010.

Golden Boy Promotions

On 16 April 2011, Primetime broadcast

Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey was a 140-pound world title fight, that was aired on HBO's '' World Championship Boxing'', as part of an HBO-televised split-site double-header, which also included WBC Welterweight Championship fight, Andre Ber ...

. 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." Histo ...

and lead to the channel showing

Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah Amir Khan (British boxer), Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah'', billed as "Attack & Conquer", was a professional boxing match contested on July 23, 2011 for the World Boxing Association, WBA (Super) and International Boxing Federation, IBF light welterweig ...

and

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz, billed as ''Star Power'', was a championship fight for Ortiz's World Boxing Council, WBC welterweight title. The bout was held on September 17, 2011, at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand in Paradise, Nevad ...

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 Muh ...

showing

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

Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez (born August 23, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He is known for defeating Manny Pacquiao. He is the third Mexican boxer (after Érik Morales and Jorge Arce) to become a ...

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 WBC light welterweight title twice between 2008 an ...

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 Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

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 feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. Its license was transferred to the American religious broadcaster

SonLife Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist, gospel music recording artist, pianist, and Christian author. His television ministry, which began in 1971, and was originally known as the “Camp Meeting Ho ...

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