Sky cancelling Ringside?

by rob-glos Thu 25 Jun 2015, 8:45 am

Lots of talk that Sky are cancelling Ringside or that it may become an online only show.

Anybody heard these rumours?
Do they have any substance?

Surely Sky Sports needs all the content it can get!
Ringside is its flagship boxing show and you would expect they need something like this to keep up the interest and drive all the PPVs that we'll be getting....

by AdamT Thu 25 Jun 2015, 8:59 am

I think it is a bad move. We might slag a lot of the guys on the programme but It is a good way to drum up excitement for the casual follower.

I doubt casual followers, will be lurking on the forums to get big fight news and they will lose any interest in the sport. The sport is doing really good in the uk and it can do with all the exposure it can get.

Though in saying all that, perhaps the ratings are terrible so Sky is relegating it to online only.

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:00 am

Given they've just spunked away billions on the premiership and will undoubtedly be paying that massive c*nt Clarkson a small fortune to be a pr!ck on digital as opposed to terrestrial tv I wouldn't be surprised. Still, if it means I don't have to look at the wet wimp Adam Smith anymore then I'm all for it

by AdamT Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:05 am

Wet wimp! He needs a back hand everytime he does that gimmpy laugh!

by rob-glos Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:09 am

Sky have 7 channels dedicated to sport that run 24/7.

Even if the ratings aren't great there must be space for a one hour boxing show!!

by Guest82 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:25 am

It can't cost them a lot can it?

It also seems to be repeated about 10 times a week, so they'd need to fill a lot of hours of time.

I suppose when they are building up a big PPV they can just run programmes for the few weeks before like they do at the moment.

by Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:34 am

Would be sorry to lose it. You can moan about Smith and Nelson, but we're lucky to have a regular 1 hour boxing show with decent production values (compared to the amateur stuff on Boxnation)

Just had a quick scan through the sky sports listings and there's a lot of 1 hour shows covering "minority" sports

Windsurfing show
Hurling show
Fishing show
etc

by AdamT Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:47 am

My sky sports is in dange of getting cut. I can watch football in the bars and fights at my brothers.

by jimdig Thu 25 Jun 2015, 9:49 am

I read somewhere last week that it was gone. I thought it was a done deal.

by TopHat24/7 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:07 am

Cutting off their nose to spite their face?

Would struggle to justify any future PPVs without Ringside to hype things up.

by OasisBFC Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:18 am

if it's not doing the numbers it should be for that time slot on the channel it'll get canned like every other TV show on every other channel.

sad though, unless it's being replaced with a re-branded and reformatted regular boxing show. The ones where they got opponents together, haye vs fury, froch vs groves were belters.

by Pedro147 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:21 am

Does anyone know the viewing figures for Ringside? Think between Eddie's column in the newspaper and Social Media they can push fights just as easy. Just need the ads on TV as per usual.

I don't think that many casual fans watch Ringside religiously either. They can always do one-off shows for big fights. Also the format isn't really casual fan friendly. They don't care about small hall shows and all that. They will tune in for big fights like normal. It's genuine boxing fans that will lose out.

by Scottrf Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:26 am

Pretty difficult to find viewing figures on Sky for anything but the 10 most popular programmes per week. Probably around the 10-20,000 mark. Sky Sports 1 6pm is hardly a terrible slot though.

by Pedro147 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:40 am

Scottrf wrote:Pretty difficult to find viewing figures on Sky for anything but the 10 most popular programmes per week. Probably around the 10-20,000 mark. Sky Sports 1 6pm is hardly a terrible slot though.

Except you're competing against every 6PM news, just as people get home from work.

by Scottrf Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:44 am

True, but not the soaps.

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:49 am

AdamT wrote:My sky sports is in dange of getting cut. I can watch football in the bars and fights at my brothers.

Domestic violence isn't a sport

by rob-glos Thu 25 Jun 2015, 10:54 am

With all the fanfare a few weeks ago about Sky giving Matchroom a new long term contract, commitment to boxing blah blah.....

How can they follow up with cancelling the one permanent boxing show they have!!?

There was meant to be a grassroots boxing initiative by Sky and Matchroom.... Clearly the best way to help that is by canning their only boxing show.

Top stuff.

by JabMachineMK2 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 11:20 am

Why they'd cut this show and not just terminate Jim Watts contract is beyond me.

by Soldier_Of_Fortune Thu 25 Jun 2015, 11:56 am

I havent watch Ringside properly for over a year. It went proper stale, too pro Matchroom and predicable. Watch it last week for the first time in a while and the most interesting thing that happened was the spider running accross the floor. And our Rocky was on it Laugh

Ringside every week:
Nelson fluffs his lines.
Smith says 'Fascinating'.
Bob Mee talks about someone who died in 1777.
They push the latest MR show to the hilt.
Nelson shadowboxes with a guest.
The young new guy gets sent to an amateur gym in Swindon etc.
Pointless guest gets brought in (i.e. Anthony Cotton from Corrie).
Ed has an iPad glued to his hand.
Ed does a poll with said iPad in hand.
Ed reveals results of said poll in said iPad in said hand.
Nelson fluffs his lines.
Smith says 'Fascinating' again.
Cue credits

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 11:59 am

It's the end of the Boxing season.....

Maybe they'll bring it back later on..

by Soldier_Of_Fortune Thu 25 Jun 2015, 12:04 pm

They will still have the odd one plugging the big shows and PPVs. But on every Thursday seems to be coming to an end.

Steve Bunce's boxing hour on Setanta was the one back in the day.

by AdamT Thu 25 Jun 2015, 12:51 pm

DAVE667 wrote:
AdamT wrote:My sky sports is in dange of getting cut. I can watch football in the bars and fights at my brothers.
Domestic violence isn't a sport

by Pedro147 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 1:05 pm

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:I havent watch Ringside properly for over a year. It went proper stale, too pro Matchroom and predicable. Watch it last week for the first time in a while and the most interesting thing that happened was the spider running accross the floor. And our Rocky was on it

Ringside every week:
Nelson fluffs his lines.
Smith says 'Fascinating'.
Bob Mee talks about someone who died in 1777.
They push the latest MR show to the hilt.
Nelson shadowboxes with a guest.
The young new guy gets sent to an amateur gym in Swindon etc.
Pointless guest gets brought in (i.e. Anthony Cotton from Corrie).
Ed has an iPad glued to his hand.
Ed does a poll with said iPad in hand.
Ed reveals results of said poll in said iPad in said hand.
Nelson fluffs his lines.
Smith says 'Fascinating' again.
Cue credits

Or when Paul Smith comes in to play the nice guy card with some PR savvy, cliched responses that we all know isn't what he actually thinks.

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 1:08 pm

How do you know ???

by Soldier_Of_Fortune Thu 25 Jun 2015, 2:38 pm

You only have to look at his twitter account.

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 2:39 pm

Impartial as ever I see..

by TopHat24/7 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 2:43 pm

#Trussalwaysknowsbetter..... Rolling Eyes

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 2:57 pm

TopHat24/7 wrote:#Trussalwaysputshisknobinbutter.....

by Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake Thu 25 Jun 2015, 2:59 pm

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:

Smith says 'Fascinating'.

Genuine LOL there.

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:06 pm

Adam Smith looks like he's wandered into the wrong studio and is desperately waiting for the conversation to turn to subject of insurance or plastic sheeting sales figures for the last financial quarter.

I watch Ringside and imagine I'm in a world where David Cameron has decided to take up hosting his own show.

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:07 pm

Worse thing sky did was let Adam Darke go.....

Thought he was good..

by Scottrf Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:09 pm

Ian Darke?

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:11 pm

Scottrf wrote:Ian Darke?

That's him.. thumbsup

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:13 pm

They did let Adam Darke go and Ian left in disgust saying "If my boy doesn't do the sandwich run at 12 then you can all go get f*cked"

by theanimal316 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:25 pm

As Kevin Bridges would say Adam Smith looks like the type of bloke who has never been punched in the face in his life.

by TRUSSMAN66 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:29 pm

I think as Boxing controller Smith is too buddy buddy with Hearn........You can see at these press conferences how close they are...

It's not good when Hearn can get away with some of the dross non-ppv he's been putting up..

by Scottrf Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:29 pm

theanimal316 wrote:As Kevin Bridges would say Adam Smith looks like the type of bloke who has never been punched in the face in his life.

Surely the preferable state of events.

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:30 pm

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I think as Boxing controller Smith is too buddy buddy with Hearn........You can see at these press conferences how close they are...

It's not good when Hearn can get away with some of the dross non-ppv he's been putting up..

Shows where the problem is at SKY when someone thinks letting Adam Smith be in charge is a sound business proposition.

The f*cking guy makes John Major look like Ru Paul

by theanimal316 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:36 pm

Yes but when you're job is boxing programming for a network it's deceiving. Does anyone know his background? I actually don't mind him,he's pretty clued in if a little dull.

by Scottrf Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:39 pm

His background is Sky boxing? He was a commentator many moons ago.

by Dipper Brown Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:42 pm

They'll probably put it on PPV Wink

by Guest Thu 25 Jun 2015, 3:52 pm

theanimal316 wrote:Yes but when you're job is boxing programming for a network it's deceiving. Does anyone know his background? I actually don't mind him,he's pretty clued in if a little dull.

He sold carpet washers for six months after leaving Shrewsbury Poly. He then embarked on a Pygmalion-esque voyage on sexual enlightenment after spending six years as the sex slave of an old Nigerian woman who lived in a bedsit in Wolverhampton. After her death, he hitched to London, servicing lorry drivers orally in lieu of having any actual money and was fortunate enough to be dropped off in Rupert Mordoch's front garden after being mistaken for a pipe cleaner. Having convinced Murdoch not to call the authorities, Smith then set about getting his feet under the table by acting a male escort for Murdoch's rich and powerful friends. Mistakes were made and quickly learned from...Alan Sugar still won't return his calls, but Smith has slithered and charmed and slimed and delighted his way to his current position after managing to get his hands of the photo negatives of a particularly memorable post-fight party where Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon Jr came up with a violently graphic catchphrase whilst "docking" (One dude slides his foreskin over the helmet of another male's c*ck and they become locked together...f*ck knows why but then who knows what goes on in the minds of these sick f*cks)

All this may or may not be true, some facts have been changed, some kept the same, some have been completely made up

by **ShahenshahG** Thu 25 Jun 2015, 4:17 pm

HAHAHAHAHA

by RanjitPatel Thu 25 Jun 2015, 4:27 pm

Brilliant.

by theanimal316 Thu 25 Jun 2015, 4:31 pm

Scottrf wrote:His background is Sky boxing? He was a commentator many moons ago.

I am.aware.of that Scott. I should have clarified further,my question was regarding his background before joining Sky.

by Soldier_Of_Fortune Thu 25 Jun 2015, 5:17 pm

DAVE667 wrote:
theanimal316 wrote:Yes but when you're job is boxing programming for a network it's deceiving. Does anyone know his background? I actually don't mind him,he's pretty clued in if a little dull.
He sold carpet washers for six months after leaving Shrewsbury Poly. He then embarked on a Pygmalion-esque voyage on sexual enlightenment after spending six years as the sex slave of an old Nigerian woman who lived in a bedsit in Wolverhampton. After her death, he hitched to London, servicing lorry drivers orally in lieu of having any actual money and was fortunate enough to be dropped off in Rupert Mordoch's front garden after being mistaken for a pipe cleaner. Having convinced Murdoch not to call the authorities, Smith then set about getting his feet under the table by acting a male escort for Murdoch's rich and powerful friends. Mistakes were made and quickly learned from...Alan Sugar still won't return his calls, but Smith has slithered and charmed and slimed and delighted his way to his current position after managing to get his hands of the photo negatives of a particularly memorable post-fight party where Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon Jr came up with a violently graphic catchphrase whilst "docking" (One dude slides his foreskin over the helmet of another male's c*ck and they become locked together...f*ck knows why but then who knows what goes on in the minds of these sick f*cks)

All this may or may not be true, some facts have been changed, some kept the same, some have been completely made up

Dave u proper crack me up Laugh

by catchweight Thu 25 Jun 2015, 7:30 pm

I only watched it sparingly and it was seldom really worth a watch. Its a primarily a vehicle for promoting Matchroom cards/fighters without much substance to it.

I would guess Sky/Matchroom feel its not worth the costs of running it weekly and will instead have more irrgeular one hour "specials" featuring the half dozen ppv or worthwhle Matchroom cards that take place over the year. So Matchroom cards have been so crap this year that you would struggle to get a weekly hour long show of any substance out of them.

by AdamT Thu 25 Jun 2015, 7:45 pm

Dave hahaha

by Rodney Fri 26 Jun 2015, 8:26 am

Completely off topic but just reading Jim Watt''s daughter has died only 38, he has lost 2 of his 3 children now, absolute tragic for any parent. Thoughts and best wishes to all the Watt family.

Cheers, Rodders

by tarriq.ibrahim Fri 26 Jun 2015, 10:17 am

I just can't fathom why Sky would stop screening Ringside on TV. It's only in the last year that I subscribed to all of its channels, I only previously had Sky Sports 1 and the number of repeats that are on is ridiculous so why they would cancel originally programming to take it online is beyond me?

I never miss an episode and really enjoy it, particularly the Ringside specials they've done e.g. Hatton, Barrera, Benn etc. Ed Robinson is very good too.

It will leave a big gap for me on a Thursday at 6pm.

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