Showtime Sports To Shut Down After 37-Year Run
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Showtime’s sports programming vertical Showtime Sports will be shutting down year’s end, in light of budget cuts amid the network’s increases focus on streaming.
On Tuesday (Oct. 17), news of Showtime Sports’ pending closure was announced, confirming mounting speculation that the brand, which specializes in programming revolving around boxing, was in danger of becoming extinct.
“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, the network’s parent company, said in a statement.
“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.”
The announcement of Showtime Sports’ end comes a year after the network’s longtime CEO David Nevins departed from the company in 2022, which many took as a signal of possible uncertainty for the brand’s future. Nevins was replaced by Chris McCarthy, who helped usher the network into its partnership with MTV Entertainment Studios, which was rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime as a subsidiary.
Showtimes Sports was launched in 1986 and has aired some of the biggest boxing matches in modern history, most notably Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s clash with Manny Pacquiao in 2015, and his bout against MMA champion Connor McGregor in 2017.
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