Ricky Hatton Vs. Manny Pacquiao - Philippine TV Rights

Philippine TV Rights

In Pacquiao's home country of the Philippines, a contractual dispute developed over broadcast rights to the fight. Initially, Solar Sports was expected to be the holder of broadcast rights to the fight; airing it first on its pay-per-view channel Solar All-Access, with repeat airings afterward on the Solar Sports channel and GMA Network. However, on 16 March, rumors surfaced reporting that Solar Sports would not air the fight, and that Pacquiao had made a new deal with a "giant" network to air the match. Two days later, Pacquiao officially announced that he had reached a deal with ABS-CBN to serve as the broadcaster of the fight. Details of this contract were not disclosed.

It was later revealed that Pacquiao had terminated his contract with Solar Sports because it had been delaying the payments of 60 million pesos it was expected to make per-bout for the broadcast rights under the contract, which was originally supposed to last until 2011. However, Solar countered, claiming that "Pacquiao has no reasons because we have settled all our obligations with him." In response, Solar filed a lawsuit against both Pacquiao and ABS-CBN, seeking 150 million pesoes in damages. A representative for ABS-CBN countered the filing of the lawsuit, saying that it would fight to protect Pacquiao's wishes. Solar denied claims that Pacquiao broke-off from their deal because of delayed payments, adding that what they had not forwarded to the fighter were the "advance payments" he was seeking. After Pacquiao requested that Solar provide its financial records related to the deal, Solar distributed copies of its agreement with the boxer at a press conference—however, the financial details of the agreement were omitted from the documents. Solar executives went to Los Angeles to meet with Pacquiao to resolve the issues.

However, after meeting with Solar executives, Pacquiao announced that he and Solar had "favorably resolved their unfortunate misunderstanding", Pacquiao said in a press statement. Furthermore, Pacquiao through his lawyer said that neither party violated the contract and that it is valid and binding. Pacquiao furthermore apologized to his fans for any confusion that may have been caused by his decision to cut and then renew his ties with Solar Entertainment; ABS-CBN said for its part "we will not stand in the way if he decides to change his mind".