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Streaming Glitches Delay Massively Hyped Mayweather-McGregor Boxing Match (cnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the knocked-out dept.

"After initial indications the main event would commence at 11:15 p.m ET, it didn't get started until nearly one hour later," reports Variety. An anonymous reader quotes CNET: Saturday's much hyped fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC champion Conor McGregor drew fans from all walks of life, even those who'd never typically watch a standard boxing match. But when some of those fans settled in to watch the spectacle, beverage and snacks in hand, they found themselves in a world of hurt. Watching the fight wasn't cheap (nearly $100 on pay-per-view), so naturally, those who had technical issues as fight time neared -- on whatever platform -- were fighting mad. At 6:28 p.m. PT, as the undercard matches preceding the event aired, the UFC admitted on Twitter it was having technical issues with its Fight Pass streaming service due to the overwhelming interest in the bout.
ESPN confirms that the much-hyped event was "delayed due to pay-per-view outages."

4 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Re:$100? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How the hell is that computer board worth 10 months of Netflix?

    How the hell is that spinny disk worth 10 months of Netflix?

    How the hell is that 3D printer worth 30 months of Netflix?

    People have different hobbies and interests. Do you have someone looking over your shoulder watching your spending habits?

  2. glitches from sheer greed. by nimbius · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pay per view for this fight in america was over $100. seats at the arena went for more than five thousand dollars, and ringside was nearly $250,000. this fight was hyped for more than six months. content providers had metrics, they had every chance in the world to bolster their networks and increase server count. They did not, because from the get go this fight has been a test to see exactly how magnificently a handful of promoters and media moguls can fleece the average customer. You'll likely never see a refund for your 'online ticket.' as of right now, the fightpass servers are barely online with much of the page content timing out or flat out not connecting at all.

    Now, from experience, when my fightpass connection glitched out after the second round I was angry enough to put my laptop through a fucking wall. But after some diligent searching I found pirate streams that were just as good, if not better quality, than the $100 show I paid to see. These streams remained consistently reliable throughout the entire fight, and im sure the torrents of the fight are going to be consistently high quality as well.

    the industry needs to learn from this. the 'customers as an endless cash cow' model of Hollywood media is exactly what drove cable, CD music, and the theater movie experience into the fucking ground. Screw these streams up badly enough, screw over paying customers frequently enough, and the internet will quit caring about your streaming content entirely.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:glitches from sheer greed. by xlsior · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pay per view for this fight in america was over $100. seats at the arena went for more than five thousand dollars, and ringside was nearly $250,000. this fight was hyped for more than six months. content providers had metrics, they had every chance in the world to bolster their networks and increase server count.

      And for comparison: In the UK they charged GBP 19.95 (~$25), while in the Netherlands it was aired as regular programming on the Fox Sports cable channel.

      They pretty much just charged what the (local) markets would be willing to bear.

  3. And in case you were wondering the result by cyn1c77 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mayweather won, but it went 10 rounds and was by the referee calling it.