Showtime may have been a destination for live sports over the past few decades but that’s now changing after confirmation that the network will exit the live sports business by the end of this year.
Similar to many other channels, networks, and services, Showtime has been going through some major changes this year. Most notably, Showtime as a standalone service is being shut down later this year, following the availability of Showtime programming directly through Paramount+.
As ESPN reports, Paramount Global has also now confirmed that Showtime will shut down its sports division as well. Similar to the timeframe for shutting down the standalone Showtime service, sports programming is also now due to come to a close at the end of 2023.
According to Paramount Global’s statement, “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.”
The statement goes on to explain that “Showtime will continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year.”
While this isn’t the best news for sports fans subscribed to Showtime, it does make some sense from the Paramount Global perspective. With Paramount+ already offering access to live sports each month, it looks the company is now opting to focus delivery of sports content through the Paramount and CBS Sports divisions, while Showtime will focus primarily on entertainment programming.
As for where Showtime’s sports content, specifically boxing events, will now move to, that currently remains unclear.
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