Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight Rakes in $400 Million in Pay-Per-View Revenue for HBO/Showtime

Saturday night's Mayweather-Pacquiao championship fight raked in more than $400 million in pay-per-view revenues for HBO and Showtime, potentially the largest haul ever for PPV, according to Deadline. Unfortunately, the cable companies like Time Warner Cable, Comcast Xfinity, DirectTV, Dish, Cox, Charter, AT&T and Optimum along with Verizon, Cablevision, Bright House and RCN were not prepared to handle the massive demand from customers who shelled out $90-$100 to watch the bout live. Service outages and connection problems have been reported in many parts of the country. The cable companies attributed the connection problems to the sheer volume of PPV orders.

Because of the problem with the cable companies, many frustrated home viewers have turned to the pirated live streaming of the fight using the Meerkat or Twitter's Periscope apps. Though illegal, clamping down on last night's piracy would have been an exercise in futility simply because of the vast number of people worldwide who have access to the live streaming apps..

The live telecast of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was a joint production between HBO and Showtime. It was executive produced and directed by Showtime's David Dinkins Jr. and Bob Dunphy. The ringside announcers for the fight included HBO's Roy Jones, Jr. and Jim Lampley with Showtime's Al Bernstein. Interviews with Pacquiao were conducted by HBO's Max Kellermen while talks with Mayweather were done by Showtime's Jim Gray. The pre-fight segment of the show was hosted by Showtime's James Brown and Paulie Malignaggi.

Last night's fight was won by Mayweather via unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 116-112 and the other 118-110. According to the contract, the first $160 million of revenue, and the revenue above $180 million, from the fight will be split 60/40 between the fighters, with Mayweather receiving the larger 60% share. Revenue between $160 million and $180 million will be split 51/49, with the 51% share going to the winner. Both fighters were expected to earn at least $100 million in revenue from their participation in the contest.