UFC on FOX: The Ramifications on the UK market

Can any community members enlighten us on the potential loss of gratis UFC broadcasts in the UK market due to the souring of relations between ESPN and Zuffa? Is this going to be an exclusive contract across all markets?

9 months ago Chrisapalooza 7 comments 0 recs |

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Not sure about the UK, but at least it is not an exclusive contract through all markets. In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet has a contract with the UFC to broadcast all non-PPV events, so i’m sure some similar arrangement is possible in the UK.

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by Goonisis on Aug 21, 2011 3:16 AM EDT reply actions

The UFC’s U.K.-market contract is a separate contract. I don’t know what the duration of it is but I seriously doubt that the UFC will simply forget about the U.K. market or ignore it. The current deal and Dana White’s feelings towards ESPN may have ramifications when the UFC’s U.K. contract is up down the road, and you might see the UFC move to Sky Sports or wherever, but that’s down the road. I would guess there won’t be anymore of an increase in the number of events that are available only via PPV for the U.K. than there would have been otherwise, as that’s mostly of a separate matter.

I wish I could give a better answer but I’m not British so I’m only marginally familiar with the British television market.

by Chromium on Aug 21, 2011 7:33 PM EDT reply actions

UFC moving to Sky Sports wouldn't be a bad thing

Since Sky is closely related to Fox due to having Murdoch as an investor and I think even co-founder in both. Murdoch wanted to buy out Sky just recently because of how profitable it is, but the whole News of the World phone hacking stuff caused any potential deal to implode (not a bad thing since Sky News was already starting to turn into Foz News Lite, with a clear bias towards the Conservatives (think Republican-Lite) during the General Election last year.

Sky just has a broader reach than ESPN in the UK, ESPN is trying to play catch up. They also have a PPV model for some live sporting events like boxing, as well as new films to rent. I think around 10 years ago UFC tried to work with Sky and their PPV option (called Sky Box Office) but the UFC hadn’t grown enough in the UK for it to be viable plus it’s possible WWE put a block on UFC on sky since WWE has had a business relationship for almost 20 years and put their bigger shows on PPV here.

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by KJ Gould on Aug 22, 2011 4:14 AM EDT reply actions

UFC going to Sky would be great

I think ESPN is a bit over-rated. Sky is so much bigger & if the UFC was there, there would be a much bigger chance of someone channel hopping & coming across UFC.

However, if they tried to do some events PPV, like WWE do, they’ll fail once again. I don’t think David Haye Vs Klitschko done that well in the UK & he had months of promoting behind him, plus pretty much every newspaper reporting about him.

I actually think one of the biggest boosts for UFC in the UK would be for a major newspaper to start reporting articles about it. The Sun would probably be the best, since their key demographic is similar to that of the UFC. I know the Telegraph covers UFC, but it’s not generally the newspaper of choice for 18-30 year old males.

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by YPG on Aug 22, 2011 7:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Haye's not that big a star

Only a few pro british fans actually believed he had a shot at beating Klitchko, who is box office death outside of Germany.

Lewis vs Tyson was on Box Office back in the day and like the PPV in America it did well.

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by KJ Gould on Aug 22, 2011 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

But...

If it moves to Sky will we have to pay for the PPV? Zuffa can not copy the Wrestling blueprint because they would find it difficult to only charge for ‘special’ events. Surely each UFC event is meant to carry equal weight? Re: The Sun – Completely agree, although they already do a little bit of coverage

by Chrisapalooza on Aug 22, 2011 2:30 PM EDT reply actions