Editing Pay-per-view (section)

=== HBO PPV (professional boxing) ===
In 2006, HBO generated 3.7 million pay-per-view buys with $177 million in gross sales. The only year with more buys previously, 1999, had a total of 4 million. The former record fell in 2007 when HBO sold 4.8 million PPV buys with $255 million in sales.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3158134 |title=Mayweather-Hatton pay-per-view a smashing success |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=2007-12-17 |access-date=2011-11-03}}</ref> BY 2014, HBO had generated 59.3 million buys and $3.1 billion in revenue since its 1991 debut with Evander Holyfield-George Foreman.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dan Rafael|url=https://www.espn.com/blog/dan-rafael/post/_/id/12732/mayweather-pacquiao-on-ppv-a-perfect-storm|title=Mayweather-Pacquiao on PPV 'a perfect storm'|publisher=ESPN|date=April 29, 2015}}</ref>

1999 differed radically from 2006: 1999 saw four major fight cards: De La Hoya-Trinidad (1.4 million buys), Holyfield-Lewis I (1.2 million), Holyfield-Lewis II (850,000) and De La Hoya-Quartey (570,000). By contrast, only one pay-per-view mega-fight took place in 2006: De La Hoya-Mayorga (925,000 buys). Rahman-Maskaev bombed with under 50,000. The other eight PPV cards that year all fell in the 325,000–450,000 range.

In May 2007, the junior middleweight boxing match between [[Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.]] on HBO PPV became the biggest-selling non-heavyweight title fight, with a little more than 2.5 million buyers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/sports-tv-ratings-how-many-people-watched-mayweather-vs-pacquiao-kentucky-derby-nfl-1907833|title=Sports TV Ratings: How Many People Watched Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, The Kentucky Derby And NFL Draft?|website=[[International Business Times]]|date=2015-05-04|access-date=2016-06-30}}</ref> The fight itself generated roughly {{US$|139 million|long=no}} in domestic PPV revenue, making it the most lucrative prizefight of that era. The record stood until 2015 before it was broken by [[Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao]] in a fight dubbed as the "Fight of the Century" on May 2, 2015, which generated 4.6 million ppv buys and a revenue of over $400 million.<ref name="boxingscene2015">{{cite web|url=http://www.boxingscene.com/hbos-taffet-still-stunned-by-46m-buys-pac--97976|title=HBO's Taffet Still Stunned By 4.6M Buys For May-Pac|publisher=BoxingScene|date=November 10, 2015|access-date=May 2, 2016}}</ref>

The leading PPV attraction, [[Floyd Mayweather Jr.]] has generated approximately 24 million buys and $1.6 billion in revenue. [[Manny Pacquiao]], ranked second, has generated approximately 20.1 million buys and $1.2 billion in revenue.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Kurt Badenhausen|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2016/04/09/manny-pacquiao-set-to-retire-with-500-million-in-career-earnings/#5f4ff5866f25|title=Manny Pacquiao Set To Retire After Bradley Fight With $500 Million In Career Earnings|magazine=Forbes|date=April 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://boxingjunkie.usatoday.com/2016/11/15/bob-arum-manny-pacquiao-jessie-vargas-fight-300k-ppv-buys/|title=USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com|website=USA TODAY|access-date=1 November 2018|archive-date=23 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223065126/http://boxingjunkie.usatoday.com/2016/11/15/bob-arum-manny-pacquiao-jessie-vargas-fight-300k-ppv-buys/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Oscar De La Hoya]], has "sold" approximately 14 million [[wikt:unit|unit]]s in total, giving $700 million in domestic television receipts and stands third. In fourth place in buys, [[Evander Holyfield]] has achieved 12.6 million units ($550 million); and at fifth, [[Mike Tyson]] has reached 12.4 million units ($545 million).<ref>[https://sports.yahoo.com/news/where-manny-pacquiao-ranks-among-the-biggest-ppv-boxing-draws-of-all-time-100354711-boxing.html Where Manny Pacquiao ranks among the biggest PPV boxing draws of all-time]. Yahoo! Sports (April 8, 2014). Retrieved on 2016-06-25.</ref>

Ross Greenburg, then president of HBO Sports, called the expansion of pay-per-view "the biggest economic issue in boxing", stating "I can't tell you that pay-per-view helps the sport because it doesn't. It hurts the sport because it narrows our audience, but it's a fact of life. Every time we try to make an HBO World Championship Boxing fight, we're up against mythical pay-per-view numbers. HBO doesn't make a lot of money from pay-per-view. There's usually a cap on what we can make. But the promoters and fighters insist on pay-per-view because that's where their greatest profits lie."<ref name="The Boxing Scene">[https://books.google.com/books?id=VfvqxXaJcKEC&dq=%22put+fighters+like+Manny+Pacquiao+on+HBO+World%22&pg=PA133 The Boxing Scene] By Thomas Hauser</ref>

"It's a big problem," Greenburg continues. "It's getting harder and harder to put fighters like [[Manny Pacquiao]] on [[HBO]] World Championship Boxing. If [[Floyd Mayweather]] beats Oscar, he might never fight on HBO World Championship Boxing again. But if HBO stopped doing pay-per-view, the promoters would simply do it on their own [like Bob Arum did with Cotto-Malignaggi in June 2006] or find someone else who will do it for them."<ref name="The Boxing Scene"/>

Former HBO Sports President Seth Abraham concurs, saying, "I think, if Lou (DiBella) and I were still at HBO, we'd be in the same pickle as far as the exodus of fights to pay-per-view is concerned."<ref>[http://www.secondsout.com/usa/colhauser.cfm?ccs=208&cs=21089] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126235411/http://www.secondsout.com/usa/colhauser.cfm?ccs=208&cs=21089|date=January 26, 2007}}</ref>