PBC headed to Amazon Prime Video in multiyear rights deal

Agreement includes PPV, non-PPV events; 1st event slated for March

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A week before Premier Boxing Champions puts on its final Showtime card it announced a multiyear rights agreement with Amazon Prime Video to replace it on Thursday.

The deal has been expected for weeks as it was an open secret in the boxing industry that the sides were negotiating a deal.

PBC boss Al Haymon needed a new platform because Paramount Global, the parent company of longtime PBC broadcaster Showtime, announced in mid-October that it would shutter the Showtime Sports department, including getting rid of the boxing franchise that was its cornerstone for the entirety of its 37-year existence.

“Premier Boxing Champions is very proud to partner with Prime Video to showcase our world-class boxers and events,” said Bruce Binkow, the CEO of Integrated Sports, which is the exclusive agency for PBC.  “With Prime’s incredible reach and unprecedented marketing power, we’re very excited to reach new audiences for our sport as we continue to present the most exciting, competitive and biggest fights in boxing.”

Prime Video is available to nearly 160 million customers in the United States through their Amazon Prime accounts.

Prime Video’s involvement in live sports includes its high-profile deal to stream a weekly NFL game but it has expressed interest in expanding its exclusive sports offerings.

The announcement of the boxing deal, which will begin in March, will include 12 to 14 events annually, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. That number of events is a combination of pay-per-views and non-pay-per-views, meaning fewer events per year than Showtime, which has partnered with PBC since Haymon founded it in 2015, typically put on.

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“We are thrilled to join with Premier Boxing Champions to bring the best boxers in the world to Prime Video, and to give more fans than ever the chance to experience these must-see events,” said Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of U.S. sports content and partnerships. “With live coverage of PBC action throughout the calendar year, Prime Video continues to bring viewers in the U.S. and around the world the best in sports.”

Terms of the deal, including the number of years, were not disclosed but Prime Video will distribute PBC’s pay-per-view events headlined by star fighters such as Canelo Alvarez, Gervonta Davis, Terence Crawford and David Benavidez, in the United States.

Also, Prime Video will exclusively stream a non-pay-per-view “PBC Championship Boxing series of events, showcasing top matchups among boxing’s current and rising stars. Details on specific cards, dates, and locations will be announced at a later date. In addition to the live PBC events, Prime Video will continue to grow its original sports content offerings, with behind-the-scenes PBC docuseries, live weigh-ins, as well as on-demand access to previous events, highlights, archival footage, and more.”

According to sources, the non-PPV cards and original programming will also be available to Prime Video customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Besides being able to buy pay-per-view events through Prime Video, even without a Prime membership, fans will still be able to buy them on linear television though their cable or satellite provider as well as digitally on PPV.com.

PBC and Showtime put on a series of major pay-per-view events in 2023, including the blockbuster Davis-Ryan Garcia fight, Davis-Hector Luis Garcia, Alvarez-Jermell Charlo, Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. and Benavidez against Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.

PBC had one year remaining on its deal with Showtime, which, according to a source, is buying out the final year of the deal for at least $10 million.

Showtime will air its final PBC event on Dec. 16, a tripleheader from The Armory in Minneapolis, where hometown fighter David Morrell will defend the WBA “regular” super middleweight title against Sena Agbeko in the main event; lightweights Chris Colbert and Jose Valenzuela will meet in a rematch; and Julio Cesar Martinez will defend the WBC flyweight title versus Angelino Cordova.

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