Showtime, HBO sue to stop piracy of Mayweather-Pacquiao fight
Floyd Mayweather Jr. at his arrival ceremony in Las Vegas on Tuesday to promote his Saturday title bout against Manny Pacquiao.
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Reporting from Las Vegas — Pay-per-view providers Showtime and HBO filed a joint lawsuit against two companies the premium cable networks claim were planning to pirate the signal of Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight.
The welterweight title unification bout at MGM Grand is expected to shatter boxing revenue records, including the record 2.52 million buys that Mayweather’s 2007 split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya generated on HBO.
The joint Showtime-HBO venture will cost $89.95 for standard definition and $99.95 for high-definition, positioning it with estimates of 3 million buys to double the record $150 million in sales from Mayweather’s 2013 majority decision win over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Showtime.
In a joint statement, the networks said of their copyright infringement complaint, “BOXINGHD.net and SPORTSHIP.org are promoting unauthorized free streams of our intellectual property. As content creators and distributors, we believe that combating piracy and stopping content theft is crucial to maintain our ability to provide our customers with world-class programming like the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight.”
According to reports, the lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and an immediate injunction to shut down the sites until the fight is complete.
Read the Los Angeles Times’ special edition Flipboard digital magazine Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
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