Digital TV News

Virgin Media extends sport channels with BoxNation

Thursday 24 November, 2011

By Anthony Hill

Get a ringside seat for £10 a month when it launches in December.

Boxing fans could soon be receiving digital TV that really packs a punch.

Virgin Media will bring the best of boxing to homes across Britain when a new premium sports channel is added to its line-up.

From the start of December, subscribers to BoxNation - paying £10 a month - will enjoy live fighting action from the biggest names in amateur, domestic and international boxing, with an “unbeatable” schedule of matches from across the globe.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said: “We know that avid boxing fans will welcome today’s news and will be looking forward to ringside action whilst watching some of the most prolific boxing stars battle it out for some of the sport’s most prestigious world titles.”

BoxNation, the first dedicated subscription boxing channel of its kind, has created an action-packed schedule of programming which includes Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour every Monday night.

Upcoming live fights include an international double header on Saturday 3 December, with the WBA heavyweight championship title fight between undefeated champion Alexander Povetkin and Cedric Boswell in Helsinki, before Britain’s John Murray takes on the WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios in New York.

On Friday 9 December, bitter rivals James DeGale, the European super-middleweight champion, and George Groves, who won the British super-middleweight belt from DeGale back in May, joint headline a Liverpool fight extravaganza from the Echo Arena.

Promoter Frank Warren said: “We’ve got a great line-up over the coming months and a cracking line-up for early 2012. Recently, BoxNation viewers have seen two candidates for fight of the year - between Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew, and Liam Walsh against Paul Appleby.”

BoxNation will complement existing sports channels available via Virgin Media, including Sky Sports, Eurosport, ESPN, Racing UK, MUTV and LFCTV - plus a wide choice of sport content on-demand and many channels also available in high-definition.