Versus off of DirecTV

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 1, 2009 11:09 AM EDT in News Comment 26 comments

With the August 31 deadline having passed Versus has been removed from DirecTV. The LATimes wrote about the reason for the dispute between the satellite giant and the sports network last week:

Robert Mercer, director of public relations for DirecTV, said: "Versus' overall ratings are poor and have not increased nearly enough to justify what we're paying them, let alone the significant increase they're asking for.

"It is a significant rate hike and the deal is discriminatory because Versus is not offering the same package options as other distributors."

...

On DirecTV, Versus ranks 61st among 74 English-advertising supported cable networks.

Obviously to MMA fans the story is the fact that WEC shows are going to become unavailable for a large percentage of viewers. The loss in eyeballs will no doubt result in a loss of cash for the promotion, but also for fighters who are given sponsorship deals based on the number of eyeballs that will be on their fights.

From an overall sporting perspective the coverage change comes just days before the start of the college football season. With Versus having a deal with the Big 12 as well as carrying a small number of Pac-10 and Mountain West games the pressure to work out a deal will increase with every passing day.

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The rescheduled wec date wasn’t a coincidence… by then a deal will be worked out.

A baby can only hold its breath for so long.

by mmalogic on Sep 1, 2009 9:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I needs my Sports Soup and Fanarchy

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 1, 2009 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

my red white black and blue summer is RUINED.

by woooburn on Sep 1, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

by Nick Thomas on Sep 1, 2009 9:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What a fair and balanced message.

by Patrick79x on Sep 1, 2009 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why should they be fair and balanced?

that’s a confusing thing to say. They ARE one side of the issue…why would they be like “due to equal responsibility…”

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 1, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

They obviously can say whatever they want, but it’s definitely a biased statement. I’m sure most folks see that, and it may hurt them in the long run b/c it’s so obviously one sided.

by Patrick79x on Sep 1, 2009 10:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why would you think that?

People only tell their side of the story all the time.

If people actually cared that they were getting biased info, lots of cable channels wouldn’t exist right now.

by Phildo on Sep 1, 2009 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

When my local cable company

decided to play hardball with ESPN, ESPN decided to run commercials saying essentially “Oh, by the way, your cable company may drop ESPN. You might want to give them a call about that.” It didn’t take long for the cable company to crumple. If MMA fans are really concerned about this issue with DirecTV, maybe a united front would help resolve any differences.

by rzor on Sep 1, 2009 9:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

There are a number of problems...

one of which is that Versus is owned by Comcast…a direct competitor of DirecTV. Comcast has proved in the past to be pretty damn stubborn on these things (see the length of time it took to get the Big 10 Network negotiations done)…etc

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 1, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs