By Kenneth Friedland: DAZN has just announced that their streaming service for sports will broaden to more than 200 countries beginning on December 1st, with Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell and Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev shown.
The price for DAZN for UK fans will initially be £1.99 per month. It’s unclear how long that price will stay that low before it increases, as we saw in the U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWU_ETzaAE
Joshua-Pulev won’t be shown on DAZN in the UK on December 12th, unfortunately, but it’ll be shown in other countries.
How will DAZN’s UK launch impact Sky Sports?
It’s unclear whether DAZN will wind up as the outlet for Matchroom Boxing’s fight cards once their current contract with Sky Sports expires. If so, it’s going to be interesting to see which promotional company steps to provide Sky Sports content.
With a price tag of £1.99 per month in the UK, DAZN will have an advantage over Sky Sports, and it could be difficult for them to compete with that price.
Losing the likes of Anthony Joshua will be a tough pill for Sky to swallow. DAZN could quickly become a major powerhouse for boxing in the UK, possibly beginning in 2021.
There are many British fighters with other promoters in the UK, but very few of them have the kind of talent to compete with the Matchroom and BT sport fighters. It could be tough on Sky if they lose Matchroom Boxing next year.
The question is, will Sky continue to stay in the boxing business, or will they walk away from it the way we saw with HBO in the States. DAZN could make it very hard for Sky to compete if Matchroom becomes part of their UK steaming events in 2021.
“Joshua vs. Pulev won’t be on DAZN in the UK or Ireland but will be available via a domestic broadcaster,” said DAZN.
Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell will be shown on DAZN in the UK. The fight broadcast will start at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) will be battling for the interim WBC lightweight crown.
The Garcia-Campbell fight winner is supposed to fight WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, but that probably won’t happen if Garcia wins. He wants WBA 135-lb champion, Gervonta Davis.
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) and IBF mandatory Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting on December 12th at the Wembley Arena in London, England. Like the Garcia-Campbell fight, the card will begin at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT.
The start time is to ensure that boxing fans from other countries can watch the fight at a decent time without the need to stay up late into the early morning.
“From the UK to Mexico to Australia, we’ve seen an encouraging level of interest in our key events since first launching in 2016,” said DAZN EVP Joseph Markowski.
“We’re looking forward to introducing the DAZN platform around the world this December with an exciting schedule of fights.”