Showtime Sports, the brand that televised some of boxing’s biggest fights since its 1986 launch, will be discontinued at the end of this year, parent company Paramount said Tuesday.
“As we evolve our strategy to more efficiently allocate resources and align our content offering across the business, we’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with boxing and other content produced by the Showtime sports team,” the company told Sports Business Journal and ESPN in a statement. “Showtime will continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our employees who have contributed to this award-winning sports programming over multiple decades.”
Showtime Sports’ offerings went beyond boxing and included documentaries and digital programming. It carried “Inside the NFL” from 2008 to 2021 and televised mixed martial arts fights from Strikeforce, EliteXC and Bellator. (Paramount owns Bellator, but it has been trying to sell the promotion.)
Tuesday’s news is connected to Paramount’s other properties. The company already owns a sports arm through CBS Sports in addition to its Paramount Plus streaming service. It is unclear whether Showtime will continue to carry sports next year, but any sports programming on the network would be produced by CBS Sports, according to Sports Business Journal.
It is also unclear how many layoffs will result from the move, though Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza will be among them, according to SBJ. Espinoza has run Showtime Sports since 2011.
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“The company’s decision is not a reflection of the work we have done in recent years, nor of our long and proud history,” Espinoza said in a statement. “Unfortunately, in a rapidly evolving media marketplace, the company has had to make difficult choices allocating resources, resetting priorities and reshaping its content offering. While today’s news is certainly difficult and disappointing, it is entirely out of our control.”
Showtime Sports debuted in March 1986 with a fight between Marvin Hagler and John Mugabi. It has aired nearly 2,000 bouts, including Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield and Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. Showtime Sports competed with HBO for boxing’s biggest bouts over three decades; HBO dropped boxing programming at the end of 2018.
The Showtime boxing calendar features just one event: a Nov. 25 fight between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade in Las Vegas.
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