Boxing: SBW viewers offered free movie by Sky

Sonny Bill Williams punches Francois Botha during their heavyweight bout. Photo / Getty Images

SKY TV is offering customers who purchased the Sonny Bill Williams boxing match against Francois Botha a free pay-per-view movie after two rounds were cut from the bout.

Fans paid a fee of $39.95 to watch the fight earlier this month, which was controversially cut from 12 to 10 rounds, leaving some customers feeling short-changed.

SKY had previous said it would consider issuing refunds in situations where the broadcast had gone wrong and customers had missed out.

"We delivered to our customers the whole event so there are no issues there. People were a bit surprised about the 10 rounds but it was out of our hands," spokesperson Kirsty Way said following the fight.

However, in a letter sent this week to customers who purchased the fight, SKY said it was concerned its customers were not "completely satisfied" because the fight was shorter than advertised.

As a result it has offered a free pay-per-view movie from either the SKY Box Office channels or SKY on Demand to customers who purchased the fight.

"Some of our customers have told us they were disappointed that the SBW fight was contested for 10 rounds when it was advertised as a 12 round fight," the letter from SKY's manager customer service Amanda Bremer said.

"For this event SKY was the NZ broadcaster and we didn't have a role producing the event, so most elements were out of our control - including the length of the fight."

Movies on Sky Box Office cost $6.99 to book.