Pay-per-view - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it (as opposed to video-on-demand systems, which allow viewers to see recorded broadcasts at any time). Events can be purchased using an on-screen guide, an automated telephone system, or through a live customer service representative. Events often include feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

s, sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

ing events and entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

United States

The Zenith

Zenith

The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...

Phonevision system became the first pay-per-view system tested in the United States. Developed in 1951, it used telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

lines to take and receive orders as well as to de-scramble a broadcast signal. Phonevision field-tests ran for 90 days in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.
The system used IBM punched card

Punched card

A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...

s to de-scramble a signal broadcast during the broadcast station's "off-time". Both systems showed promise, but the FCC

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

denied them permits.

One of the earliest pay-per-view systems on cable, the Optical Systems Channel 100

Channel 100

Channel 100 was a pay television channel company run by Jeff Nathanson and Alan Greenstadt. Also called Optical Systems, it was one of the first all pay-per-view cable TV channels. It used a box manufactured by TRW, in which a user inserted separately purchased punched plastic cards for access...

, first entered service in 1972 in San Diego through Mission Cable
(acquired by Cox Communications

Cox Communications

Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

) and TheaterVisioN, which operated out of Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...

. These early systems quickly went out of business, as the cable industry adopted satellite technology and as flat-rate systems like Home Box Office

Home Box Office

HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...

became popular.

Boxing fans were first introduced to their sport on pay-per-view with the Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

vs. Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....

fight "Thrilla In Manila

Thrilla in Manila

The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 1, 1975....

", there was also another in 1980, when Roberto Duran

Roberto Durán

Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired professional boxer from Panama, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career....

defeated Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...

. Cable companies offered the match for $10, and about 155,000 customers paid to watch the fight.

A major pay-per-view event occurred on September 16, 1981, when Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...

fought

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns

Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns are considered to be two of the best boxers of all-time. They fought twice, once in 1981 and once in 1989. Both fights are considered to be classics.-Leonard-Hearns I "The Showdown":...

Thomas "Hitman" Hearns

Thomas Hearns

Thomas "Hitman" Hearns is a retired American boxer. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra" and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns became the first boxer in history to win world titles in four divisions. He would also become the first fighter in history to win five world titles in five different divisions...

for the Welterweight Championship. Viacom Cablevision in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, the first system to offer the event, sold over fifty percent of its subscribers for the fight. Leonard visited Nashville to promote the fight, and the event proved such a success that Viacom themed its annual report

Annual report

An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance...

for that year around it. Viacom's Marketing Director was Pat Thompson who put together the fight and subsequently put together additional PPV fights, wrestling matches, and even a Broadway play.

After leaving Viacom, Thompson became head of Sports View and produced the first pay-per-view football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

game on October 16, 1983, when Tennessee

Tennessee Volunteers football

The Tennessee Volunteers football team are an American college football team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville . The NCAA Division I team is also a member of the Southeastern Conference ....

played Alabama

Alabama Crimson Tide football

from Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. Sports View played a role in building pay-per-view networks and became the early pioneer in developing TigerVision for LSU, TideVision for Alabama, and UT Vol Seat for Tennessee. Sports View also produced the Ohio State-Michigan Football game on PPV in November 1983.

In 1985, the first U.S. cable channels devoted to pay-per-view, Viewer's Choice
IN DEMAND
In Demand is a provider of pay-per-view and subscription video-on-demand services, jointly owned by Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks...

, Cable Video Store
Cable Video Store
Cable Video Store , is a defunct pay-per-view service that was launched in 1985 by General Instruments. It was later owned by Graff Pay-Per-View. Cable Video Store consisted of one channel which carried first run movies and specials on a PPV basis...

, First Choice
First Choice
First Choice may refer to:* First Choice * First Choice , owned by TUI Travel PLC** First Choice Airways, its in-house airline* First Choice Haircutters, a Canadian hairdressing company...

, and Request TV
Request TV
Request TV, also known as Request Television, is a defunct pay-per-view service which was owned by Liberty Media and Twentieth Century Fox that was launched in November 1985. Request TV was originally owned by Reiss Media Enterprises; Group W Satellite Communications later purchased a 50% stake in...

began operation within days of each other. Viewer's Choice serviced both home satellite-dish and cable customers, while Request TV, though broadcasting to cable viewers, would not become available to dish-owners until the 1990s.

First Choice PPV was available on Rogers Cablesystems in the United States and Canada.
When Paragon Cablesystems acquired the Rogers Cablesystems in San Antonio, Texas First Choice continued until 1996 when Time Warner Cable bought Paragon Cablesystems in San Antonio, Texas.

The term "pay-per-view" did not come into general use until the late 1980s when companies like iN DEMAND

IN DEMAND

In Demand is a provider of pay-per-view and subscription video-on-demand services, jointly owned by Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks...

, HBO

Home Box Office

, and Showtime started using the system to show movies and some of their productions. In Demand would show movies, concerts, and other events, with live sporting events such as WrestleMania

WrestleMania

WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in late March or early April by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut...

predominant. Prices ranging from $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

3.99 to $49.99, while HBO and Showtime, with their leg

Swap (finance)

In finance, a swap is a derivative in which counterparties exchange certain benefits of one party's financial instrument for those of the other party's financial instrument. The benefits in question depend on the type of financial instruments involved...

s TVKO and SET Pay Per View, would offer championship boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

with prices ranging from $14.99 to $54.99.

ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

has shown college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

football

American football

and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

games on pay-per-view. The boxing

Boxing

undercard Latin Fury, shown on June 28, 2003, became ESPN

ESPN

's first boxing pay-per-view card

Card (sports)

In sports, a card comprises a listing of the matches taking place in a title-match combat-sport event. Organizers divide overall cards into a main-event match and the undercard, which encompasses the rest of the matches. One can also further subdivide the undercard into midcard and lower card,...

and also the first pay-per-view boxing card held in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. Pay-per-view has provided a revenue stream

Revenue stream

A revenue stream is a form of revenue. Revenue streams refer specifically to the individual methods by which money comes into a company. Revenue streams may be characterized...

for professional wrestling

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

companies like World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

(WWE), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...

(TNA), Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...

(ROH) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico...

.

In the United States pay-per-view broadcasters transmit without advertisements, unlike almost all other broadcasters.

Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon

Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...

, the chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

, is considered by many as one of the icons of pay-per-view promotion. He owns the rights to payperview.com, which redirects to the WWE website.

HBO PPV

In 2006 HBO generated 3,700,000 pay-per-view buy

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

s with $177,000,000 in gross sales. The only year with more buys previously, 1999, had a total of 4,000,000. However, the record fell in 2007 when HBO sold 4,800,000 PPV buys with $255,000,000 in sales.

But 1999 differed radically from 2006. 1999 saw De La Hoya-Trinidad (1,400,000 buys), Holyfield-Lewis I (1,200,000), Holyfield-Lewis II (850,000), and De La Hoya-Quartey (570,000). By contrast, only one pay-per-view mega-fight took place in 2006: De La Hoya-Mayorga (925,000 buys). Rahman-Maskaev bombed with under 50,000. The other eight PPV cards last year all fell in the 325,000-450,000 range. Pay-per-view fights in that range almost always generate more money for the promoter and fighters than HBO wants to pay for an HBO World Championship Boxing license-fee.

In May 2007, the super-welterweight boxing match between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on HBO PPV became the biggest-selling non-heavyweight title fight, with a little more than 2.5 million buyers. The fight itself generated roughly $134.4 million dollars in domestic PPV revenue, making it the most lucrative prizefight of all time.

The leading PPV attraction, Oscar De La Hoya, has "sold" approximately 12.8 million units in total, giving $612 million in domestic television receipts. In third place in buys, Evander Holyfield has achieved 12.6 million units ($543 million); and in second, Mike Tyson has reached 12.4 million units ($545 million).

HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg calls the expansion of pay-per-view "the biggest economic issue in boxing" and says:

"I can't tell you that pay-per-view helps the sport because it doesn't. It hurts the sport because it narrows our audience, but it's a fact of life. Every time we try to make an HBO World Championship Boxing fight, we're up against mythical pay-per-view numbers. HBO doesn't make a lot of money from pay-per-view. There's usually a cap on what we can make. But the promoters and fighters insist on pay-per-view because that's where their greatest profits lie."
"It's a big problem," Greenburg continues. "It's getting harder and harder to put fighters like Manny Pacquiao on HBO World Championship Boxing. If Floyd Mayweather beats Oscar, he might never fight on HBO World Championship Boxing again. But if HBO stopped doing pay-per-view, the promoters would simply do it on their own [like Bob Arum did with Cotto-Malignaggi in June 2006] or find someone else who will do it for them."
Former HBO Sports President Seth Abraham concurs, saying, "I think, if Lou (DiBella) and I were still at HBO, we'd be in the same pickle as far as the exodus of fights to pay-per-view is concerned."

Select HBO PPV boxing buyrates between 1991 and 2011 include:
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Date
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Fight
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Result
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Buyrate
|- align=center
|4/19/1991
|Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...

vs. George Foreman

George Foreman

George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...

Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...

vs. Donovan Ruddock

Donovan Ruddock

Donovan Ruddock , also known as Razor Ruddock, is a retired Canadian heavyweight boxer. He was a promising Heavyweight of the late 1980s and early 1990s...

2
|Tyson wins by UD (113-109, 114-108, 114-108)
|1,250,000
|- align=center
|8/19/1995
|Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

vs. Peter McNeeley

Peter McNeeley

"Hurricane" Peter McNeeley is a former heavyweight boxer, best known for his 1995 fight with Mike Tyson in which McNeeley had famously vowed to wrap Tyson in a "cocoon of horror." McNeeley fought aggressively and was knocked down twice within the first two minutes as a result...

Mike Tyson

vs.Frank Bruno

Frank Bruno

Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...

2
|Tyson wins by TKO in the 3rd round
|1,370,000
|- align=center
|11/9/1996
|Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield 1

Tyson-Holyfield I

Tyson-Holyfield I or Tyson vs Holyfield I, also billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson on November 9, 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The referee officiating the fight was Mitch Halpern...

Oscar de la Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya is a retired American boxer of Mexican descent. Nicknamed "The Golden Boy", De La Hoya won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games shortly after graduating from Garfield High School. De La Hoya comes from a boxing family. His grandfather Vicente, father Joel Sr., and brother...

vs. Pernell Whitaker

Pernell Whitaker

Pernell Whitaker , nicknamed "Sweet Pea", is a professional boxing trainer and retired American professional boxer...

Holyfield-Tyson II

Holyfield-Tyson II is a name used to identify the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, in which Tyson bit Holyfield's ear. The fight was originally billed as Holyfield-Tyson II: The Sound and the Fury and was a follow-up rematch of the first Tyson-Holyfield...

Evander Holyfield

vs. Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

1
|Draw
|1,200,000
|- align=center
|9/18/1999
|Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar de la Hoya

vs. Félix Trinidad

Félix Trinidad

Félix 'Tito' Trinidad, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, considered one of the best in Puerto Rico's history. After winning five National Amateur Championships in Puerto Rico, he debuted as a professional when he was 17. He won his first world championship when he defeated Maurice Blocker...

Evander Holyfield

vs. Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

2
|Lewis wins by UD (116-112, 117-111, 115-113)
|850,000
|- align=center
|6/8/2002
|Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson

Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson

Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson was a boxing match that took place on June 8, 2002, at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, between IBF, IBO and WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and former IBF, WBA and WBC heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. The fight was for Lewis' Heavyweight...

Oscar de la Hoya

vs. Fernando Vargas

Fernando Vargas

Fernando Vargas is a retired Mexican American boxer and two-time world champion, who won a bronze medal as an amateur at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. His nicknames include "Ferocious", "The Aztec Warrior" and "El Feroz"...

Oscar de la Hoya

vs. Shane Mosley

Shane Mosley

“Sugar” Shane Mosley is an American professional boxer from Pomona, California who has held world titles in three weight divisions.-Amateur career:Mosley was an amateur standout, capturing various amateur titles, including:...

2
|Mosley wins by UD (113-115, 113-115, 113-115)
|950,000
|- align=center
|9/18/2004
|Bernard Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins Jr, known as The Executioner is an American boxer and the current Ring Magazine and WBC light heavyweight champion...

vs. Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar de la Hoya

Oscar de la Hoya

vs. Ricardo Mayorga

Ricardo Mayorga

Ricardo Mayorga , is a Nicaraguan professional boxer. He is the former WBA/WBC Welterweight champion and the former WBC light middleweight champion. He holds a record of 29-8 with 23 knockouts and 1 draw 1 no contest. He was featured for the first time on the cover of Ring Magazine on the December...

Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton, billed as Undefeated, was a boxing match that took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, between reigning WBC & The Ring welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and reigning The Ring light welterweight champion Ricky...

Ricky Hatton vs. Manny Pacquiao

Ricky Hatton vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as The Battle of East and West, was a boxing light welterweight superfight for the International Boxing Organization and The Ring light welterweight championship...

Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

"Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Márquez: Number One/Numero Uno" was a welterweight superfight which took place on September 19, 2009, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada between five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and three-division champion Juan Manuel Márquez...

Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto

Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, billed as Firepower, was a boxing welterweight superfight for the WBO World welterweight championship. The bout was held on November 14, 2009, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States...

Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey

Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey, billed as The Event, was a welterweight fight for the WBO World welterweight championship. The bout was held on March 13, 2010, at Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, United States. This match was put together after the long awaited "superfight" between Manny...

Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley

Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley was a boxing welterweight non-title superfight, in which Mayweather won by unanimous decision with two judges scoring it 119–109 and one judge scoring it 118–110. The bout was held on May 1, 2010, before a "sellout" crowd of 15,117 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in...

Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito

Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito, billed as World Super Welterweight Championship, was a Super Welterweight fight for the WBC Super Welterweight championship. The bout was held on November 13, 2010, at Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, United States...

Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley

Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley was a welterweight fight for the WBO Welterweight championship. The bout was held on May 7, 2011, at MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada...

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

(UFC), a relative newcomer on the pay-per-view scene, "matched the once-dominant World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

Inc. in pay-per-view revenues during 2006 and surpassed boxing titan HBO. The three companies make up the bulk of the pay-per-view business." According to Deana Myers, a senior analyst at Kagan Research LLC

SNL Financial

SNL Financial LC is a financial information firm headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. SNL collects, standardizes and publishes corporate, financial, market and M&A data, plus news and analysis, on more than 4,000 public companies and over 50,000 private companies in these industries:...

(which tracks the PPV industry), "UFC has reinvigorated the pay-per-view category."

The following list shows the highest buyrates for the UFC :

| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Position
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Date
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Event
| style="text-align:center; border-style:none none solid solid; background:#e3e3e3;"|Buyrate
|- align=center
|1
|7/11/2009
|UFC 100: Lesnar vs. Mir 2

UFC 100

UFC 100 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 11, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|1,600,000
|- align=center
|2
|7/3/2010
|UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin

UFC 116

UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 3, 2010 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States...

|1,160,000
|- align=center
|3
|12/30/2006
|UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2

UFC 66

UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 30, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada .-Background:...

|1,050,000
|- align=center
|4
|5/29/2010
|UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans

UFC 114

UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 29, 2010 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The UFC Fan Expo took place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center....

|1,050,000
|- align=center
|5
|10/23/2010
|UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez

UFC 121

UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 23, 2010 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, United States...

|1,050,000
|- align=center
|6
|11/15/2008
|UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar

UFC 91

UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 15, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event featured the return of UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture versus Brock Lesnar in a title...

|1,010,000
|- align=center
|7
|12/27/2008
|UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008

UFC 92

UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 was a mixed martial arts event by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on December 27, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|1,000,000
|- align=center
|8
|1/31/2009
|UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2

UFC 94

UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2 was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 31, 2009. The card featured five televised MMA bouts, as well as five un-aired preliminary bouts...

|920,000
|- align=center
|9
|8/8/2009
|UFC 101: Declaration

UFC 101

UFC 101: Declaration was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

|850,000
|- align=center
|10
|3/27/2010
|UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy

UFC 111

UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 27, 2010 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, United States.-Background:...

|850,000
|- align=center
|11
|4/30/2011
|UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields

UFC 129

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.-Background:...

|800,000
|- align=center
|12
|12/11/2010
|UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck 2

UFC 124

UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 11, 2010 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec...

|785,000
|- align=center
|13
|7/8/2006
|UFC 61: Bitter Rivals

UFC 61

UFC 61: Bitter Rivals was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, July 8, 2006. The event took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada and was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States.-Background:The main event was a...

|775,000
|- align=center
|14
|2/5/2011
|UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort

UFC 126

UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on February 5, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|750,000
|- align=center
|15
|12/29/2007
|UFC 79: Nemesis

UFC 79

UFC 79: Nemesis was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship , that took place on December 29, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|700,000
|- align=center
|16
|5/26/2007
|UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson

UFC 71

UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event took place on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|675,000
|- align=center
|17
|4/18/2009
|UFC 97: Redemption

UFC 97

UFC 97: Redemption was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 18, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It broke the UFC attendance record that was set 364 days earlier in Montreal at UFC 83, by 61 people.-Preliminary card:*Light Heavyweight bout: Vinicius...

|650,000
|- align=center
|18
|5/23/2009
|UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida

UFC 98

UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 23, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

|635,000
|- align=center
|19
|8/9/2008
|UFC 87: Seek And Destroy

UFC 87

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 9, 2008, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Background:...

|625,000
|- align=center
|20
|12/12/2009
|UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez

UFC 107

UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 12, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee at the FedExForum.-Background:...

|620,000
|- align=center

Canada

In Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, First Choice

First Choice

First Choice may refer to:* First Choice * First Choice , owned by TUI Travel PLC** First Choice Airways, its in-house airline* First Choice Haircutters, a Canadian hairdressing company...

offers pay-per-view services through various Canadian satellite TV

Satellite television

Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

and digital cable

Digital cable

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...

television-providers, including Rogers Digital Cable, Shaw Direct, and MTS

Manitoba Telecom Services

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. , or MTS , formerly Manitoba Telephone System, is the primary telecommunications carrier in the Canadian province of Manitoba and the fourth largest telecommunications provider in Canada with 7000 employees...

. Prices range from C$

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

5.99 (for movies) up to $20 or more for special events. Bell TV delivers its own pay-per-view service, Vu!, to its satellite subscribers. Prices range from $4.99 up to $20 or more for special events. It also runs Venus, an adult pay-per-view service, to its satellite subscribers for $9.99 per movie.

Albania

In November 2008 pay-per-view scheduled its debut in Albania through Digitalb with the channel DigiGold.

United Kingdom

Viewers in the United Kingdom can access pay-per-view via satellite, cable and over-the-internet television services, mainly for films - with services such as Sky Box Office. Broadcasters (most notably PremPlus

PremPlus

PremPlus or Premiership Plus was Sky Sports' first and only pay-per-view channel, which was dedicated to airing live and interactive Premiership football from the Premier League...

) have largely abandoned their aspirations to introduce PPV into the sports market due to poor take-up; it carries only occasional boxing matches and half of the WWE PPV events, with the other half shown on Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

France

Started in Late 90's, Canalsat (Ciné+) and TPS (Multivision) launch their own PPV Service. While CanalSat has got rights for Live Soccer Matches for France's Ligue 1, TPS had the rights for Boxe matches. In 2007, Multivision service ceased by the end of TPS service which merged with Canalsat. Nowadays, Ciné+ is the only existing PPV service in France.

Australia and the Pacific Islands

Foxtel

Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....

and Optus Vision introduced pay-per-view direct to home television in Australia in the mid-to-late 1990s. Foxtel had Event TV (until it transformed into it's current form; Main Event

Main Event

Main Event is Australia's only pay-per-view channel. It transmits through Foxtel, Optus Television and Austar, which jointly own the channel...

) while, Optus Vision had Main Attraction Pay-Per-View as it's provider. As of 2005, Main Event is the current Pay-Per-View provider through Foxtel and Optus cable/satellite subscription.

Sky Pacific started a service in Fiji and in other Pacific Island nations in 2006.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Astro's Astro Box Office
Astro Box Office
Astro Box Office is a pay-per-view system on the Astro platform in Malaysia. It shows movies and occasionally sporting events.- History :...

service launched in 2000 in the form of the free-to-air

Free-to-air

Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...

"Astro Showcase".

Japan

SkyPerfecTV subscribers can receive one-click pay-per-view access to hundreds of channels supplying domestic and international sporting events (including WWE events), movies, and specialty programming, either live or later on continuous repeat on its channel.

External links

Capsule history at Museum of Broadcast Communications

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

United States

HBO PPV

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Canada

Albania

United Kingdom

France

Australia and the Pacific Islands

Malaysia

Japan

See also

External links