Showtime Sports is partnering with Twitter to stream its first live boxing event on the social platform Saturday, with the headliner of Showtime Championship Boxing being welterweight’s Adrien Broner against Adrian Granados competing in a 10-round match.
Showtime’s collaboration with Twitter is part of the Showtime Free Preview Weekend, and as a result, the entire premium network is available now through Monday. Facebook and Showtime had a similar partnership in mid-December, but the major difference was there were only undercard fights via Facebook Live, as fans still needed to tune into Showtime to watch the main card. If fans didn’t pay for Showtime, they were out of luck.
The free livestream begins at 9 p.m. ET, will only be accessible in the United States and Canada for both logged-in and logged-out users.
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“We are in the midst of an unrivaled run of seven live boxing events over an eight-week span on SHOWTIME and CBS,” Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports, said in a statement. “The sport of boxing is on the rise again, and the best and most meaningful fights are on SHOWTIME. With this unprecedented live stream on Twitter, we have the opportunity to reach boxing fans and casual observers everywhere with the industry-leading boxing programming we deliver to our subscribers on a consistent basis.”
Added Twitter COO Anthony Noto in a statement: “Twitter is where fans go to for live conversations about boxing. Our collaboration with SHOWTIME Sports will provide fans access to the live video stream of Saturday night’s best-in-class championship boxing coverage and the live conversation all on one screen.”
In the past six months, Twitter has gone all-in on live sports, providing fans with access to college football and basketball games, Thursday Night Football, PGA TOUR coverage and weekly NHL contests, among other features. Its content war with Facebook Live has been a ‘”must follow” as both companies compete for live sports programming.