Chris Dehring, conceptualiser of the now-defunct SportsMax channel, was left nostalgic by the news that the Caribbean sports broadcaster has shut down.

Dehring, now the CEO of West Indies Cricket, said goodbye to an idea that was born 26 years ago while he watched an English Premier League game at Chelsea FC.

When quizzed by Our Today if it was painful to see his baby no longer around, Dehring responded. “Not painful but nostalgic when I think about how it started.”

“Nineteen ninety-nine was the year I had the thought, bought the EPL (English Premier League) rights for the next cycle 2001/2002. I tried to get WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) to do it as West Indies TV. They weren’t interested…so started SportsMax,” he told Our Today.

On Tuesday, Digicel, which bought SportsMax in 2014, announced that the entity would cease operating on August 8, 2025.

Dehring, no stranger to starting successful businesses and making significant profits after selling his ownership, posted on Facebook after learning of SportsMax’s closure.

“As I sat in SkySports’ box I thought, ‘Why not start a SkySports in the Caribbean?’” Dehring wrote on Facebook. “Later I scanned through the cable channels looking for ideas for a name… Sports-something I thought… I happened upon Cinemax.. and bam… SportsMax was born”.

“I even copied Sky Sports blue and red logo (shame),” he noted. “That baby I conceived became a child, then raised by Ollymo (Oliver McIntosh) and Uncle Pat (Pat Rosseau) into a teenager and adult, broadcast in 26 countries around the region before we sold to Digicel for its next life,” said Dehring.

SportsMax was a Caribbean sports channel, with its parent company being International Media Content Limited (IMC). IMC is responsible for acquiring rights to top sporting content, including major events like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.

“It was the first Caribbean sports channel, the first to bring the EPL, the Ashes, and so many more firsts,” said Dehring.

“So like DB&G (if anyone even remembers that baby), for everything there is a season… a time to be born, and a time to die,” said Dehring.