TOMORROW, Sky television embarks upon what is certain to be the first of many heroic forays into the netherworld of pay-per-view television. Inevitably, the first featured sport is soccer, but there is a slightly novel aspect in that the ubiquitous Manchester United are not in the inaugural line-up. Instead, Oxford United find themselves among the unlikely history makers when they host Sunderland.
Given that many of Sunderland's manic supporters won't obtain tickets for Oxford's neat little ground, chances are that a good number of them will to shell out the £7.95 for the game.
That said, it is extremely unlikely that the programme will feature in the world's top pay-per-view events.
In June 1997, the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight attracted 1.99 million paying customers, the biggest ever draw. Tyson features in six of the top eight pay-per-view events of all time, which are dominated solely by boxing.
The Holyfield fights against George Foreman and Buster Douglas are listed at fourth and seventh respectively. But Tyson's pulling power appears to be waning with his star. His fight against Francois Botha last month was expected to exceed the one million viewers mark, but drew a mediocre audience of 700,000.
