21st Century Fox steps into the ring with Premier Boxing Champions deal

21st Century Fox has struck a four-year deal with Premier Boxing Champions for the rights to carry fights on Fox channels.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 03, 2018 heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder of the US fights contender Luis Ortiz of Cuba (out of frame) during their WBC heavyweight title fight in New York. The World Boxing Council has vowed to investigate heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder after he was quoted as saying he wanted to cause a death in a boxing ring. In an interview with syndicated New York radio show, The Breakfast Club, Wilder triggered revulsion throughout boxing by saying he hoped to "have a body" on his record. / AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARY

Fox is getting into the boxing ring.

21st Century Fox has struck a four-year agreement with Premier Boxing Champions for the rights to carry fights on the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports 1 cable channel and pay-per-view, starting in December.

The media giant is stockpiling programming in preparation for life after it completes the sale of the majority of its entertainment assets to Walt Disney a deal that will leave behind a “New Fox” focused heavily on sports and its Fox News Channel.

In January, the company struck a $US3.3 billion, five-year pact with the National Football League for rights to Thursday night football. In June it reached a five-year agreement to carry World Wrestling Entertainment content for just over $US1bn.

Since Fox is selling its in-house studio to Disney, it will rely heavily on sports content to fill up 15 hours of prime-time programming on its broadcast network. The WWE show “Smackdown” will air on Friday nights, while Premier Boxing fights will air on Saturday nights.

Fox Sports 1 will have the rights to 12 fights annually, while the Fox broadcast network will get 10. Those networks will be part of the new Fox, along with Fox News.

21st Century Fox, The Australian and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.

CBS’s Showtime also has a multiyear boxing agreement with Premier Boxing Champions.

Prominent fighters with PBC include World Boxing Council heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder and International Boxing Federation welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. PBC is owned by boxing manager Haymon Sports, which is operated by boxing manager Al Haymon. Mr Haymon’s clients include Messrs Wilder and Spence Jr. as well as Floyd Mayweather.

Terms of Fox’s deal with Premier Boxing Champions weren’t disclosed. Typically, rights fees are determined on a per-fight basis, according to people familiar with the matter. A fight between two highly ranked contenders commands as much as $US5 million, while contests of lesser known fighters can be priced significantly lower. The annual rights fees could reach more than $US50m, people familiar with the matter said.

Pay-per-view fights, as a rule, feature those at the top of the sport, with the boxers getting the lion’s share of the revenue and the TV programmer and distributors splitting the rest.

Fox Sports National Networks president Mark Silverman said, “We believe this will be a very profitable deal for us.”

Boxing bouts have periodically aired on broadcast television in recent years, but this deal marks the first time in four decades that the sport will have a regular presence on over-the-air television. Up until the mid-1980s, boxing was a staple of US weekend programming.

However, the sport fell off free TV amid concerns about its violence, and as cable and pay-per-view TV became the media of choice. Those outlets proved lucrative for fighters, and some like Mr Mayweather have become cultural icons, but the sport’s popularity has waned over the years. PBC and Fox are betting that a steady dose of broadcast exposure can bring it back.

“We think it will reignite the sport,” said Mr Silverman. “We’re really excited to reintroduce boxing to the masses.”

Dow Jones