If you show it they will login. That was the premise for broadcasting Saturday’s Vitali Klitschko vs. Odlanier Solis WBC heavyweight championship fight live from Colgne, Germany. And while the live broadcast on EPIX and the simulcast on a Times Square jumbotron went off without a hitch, the live streaming on EpixHD.com experienced some problems.
The replay of the EPIX broadcast, featuring the commentary of three-time heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, plus Sam Rosen and Tony Paige, is now available on EpixHD.com at http://www.epixhd.com/klitschko-vs-solis/ (main event) and
http://www.epixhd.com/klitschko-vs-solis-undercard/ (select undercard bouts).
“Due to the incredible volume of viewers logging in at the same time, just as the broadcast was about to begin at 5 p.m. ET, the system that we used to register them for the free two-week trial began to fail which caused many fans to miss the undercard fights. We made the decision to put the main event, Klitschko vs. Solis, in the clear online, eliminating the need for registration to the site,” said Mark Greenberg, President & CEO of EPIX, the multichannel premium entertainment system. “We apologize to the boxing fans who had to endure this.
Photo Caption: The EPIX closed captioned simulcast of Klitchko vs. Solis, where hundreds of boxing fans watched the fight on a Times Square jumbotron
“Over 100,000 people tried to login to the live stream of the fights, with most of that volume coming at the same time. The fan attention behaved more like a pay-per-view event than a TV show. By putting Klitschko vs. Solis in the clear online, we were able to serve the vast majority of those streams,” Greenberg continued. “Though the problems with registration are unacceptable, the good news is it proved that the internet is a viable vehicle for broadcasting a good fight live.”