The UFC have officially announced Eleven Sports as their new TV partner for the UK and Ireland. The broadcasting platform will replace BT Sport, who have been airing UFC to viewers in Britain and Ireland since 2013, Eleven Sports will hold rights to all 42 live events that are set to take place next year.
Eleven Sports currently costs either £5.99 a month, or £59.99 a year for UK and Ireland customers. Being an online video streaming service, Eleven Sports does not currently have a TV Channel or a downloadable app, however they have stated they are in “discussions” with several TV networks, such as Sky and Virgin Media.
Following an initial report from MMANytt in July, the UFC announced the new deal on their website.
“ELEVEN SPORTS and UFC have today announced a new broadcast partnership for the UK and Ireland starting in January 2019. The global sports provider has further strengthened its growing offer for sports fans by securing the rights to all 42 live UFC events in 2019, as well as over 150 hours of UFC original and archive programming in a multi-year agreement.
“UFC Fight Nights will be shown live on ELEVEN SPORTS, whilst ELEVEN will have the option to make some events available in partnership with other broadcast platforms.
“Fight Nights that are shown live on ELEVEN SPORTS will also be available on demand in full after the event.”
It’s unclear how much fight fans will have to pay for PPV events. Eleven Sports has stated that a “small amount of fights” could be available to watch on different platforms at an “extra cost,” on top of the monthly subscription fee.