Journalists at TV Azteca and many Izzi users reported on social networks that the Mexican Pay TV company owned by Televisa had interfered intentionally with Azteca Siete during the live broadcast of the fight between Andy Ruiz Jr., a U.S. born boxer of Mexican descent, and Britain’s Anthony Joshua. The alleged purpose was that the audience, being unable to tune to TV Azteca’s signal, had no choice but to view the fight on Televisa’s pay TV channel, known as TUDN.
“They know nothing about competition”, claimed commentator Christian Martinoli on Twitter. “ It is odd that Izzi, Azteca Siete’s signal, should be coming and going. Weird that nobody answered at the call center and even weirder, it was the only channel having this problem,” posted chronicler Gerardo Velázquez de León. Both journalists work at TV Azteca.
It is not the first time that Televisa has been accused of intentionally interfering with TV Azteca’s signal. Something similar happened in connection with many local league soccer matches.
In addition to TV Azteca and TUDN, Pay TV channels Espn and Space also broadcast the fight in Mexico. Some Izzi users posted that there had been audio problems during Espn’s broadcast of the fight.