Paramount will be shutting down Showtime Sports by the end of the year. The news comes in the wake of Showtime’s merger with Paramount+.
“It is with profound disappointment that I shared this morning’s news that the company has decided to shut down Showtime Sports at the end of this year,” president of Showtime Sports Stephen Espinoza wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday that was obtained by TheWrap.
Espinoza emphasized that Paramount’s decision to cut the division is not “a reflection of the work we have done in recent years, nor of our long and proud history.”
“Unfortunately, in a rapidly evolving media marketplace, the company has had to make difficult choices allocating resources, resetting priorities and reshaping its content offering,” Espinoza continued. The former head went on to say that the shuttering was “entirely out of our control.”
“As we evolve our strategy to more efficiently allocate resources and align our content offering across the business, we’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with boxing and other content produced by the Showtime sports team,” Paramount Global said in a statement obtained by TheWrap. “Showtime will continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our employees who have contributed to this award-winning sports programming over multiple decades.”
Employees impacted by this change will be paid through the end of the year.
Showtime will still broadcast the Nov. 25 fight between David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade. There is also a currently unannounced fight scheduled for December, an insider familiar with scheduling told TheWrap.
Ahead of Showtime being added to Paramount+, the streamer canceled four of its originals, including “Star Trek: Prodigy,” which found a new home on Netflix, and the hyped “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.” Four previously announced Showtime series — “Gattaca,” “Seasoned,” “Split” and “Sweetness” — were also axed in the wake of the merger.
Though the decision to end Showtime sports came down to overarching strategy plans from Paramount, the channel’s boxing offerings have been especially strong in 2023. Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia generated more than 1.2 million pay per view buys and ranks among the top 10 highest-grossing PPV events of all time for the network. Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford was also a notable event from this year, selling 700,000 PPV buys. To date, five of the paid events that have premiered in 2023 have generated more than $250 million in PPV revenue.
Founded in March 1986, Showtime Sports expanded far past the boxing events that turned it into a household name. After HBO dropped the series in 2008, Showtime picked up the award-winning docuseries “Inside the NFL” and has spearheaded several other sports documentaries such as “The Franchise,” “Quest for the Stanley Cup” and the “A Season With” series. The division is also the home to live mixed martial arts matches from leagues such as Strikeforce, EliteXC and Bellator MMA.
Leave a Reply