UFC is closing in on completing its first year exclusively on Paramount+, but it might not be long until the MMA promotion is available elsewhere.
TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC, WWE, and Zuffa Boxing, held its quarterly earnings call last week and president Mark Shapiro said he is “bullish” on the opportunity to bring UFC to TNT Sports and HBO following the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to form Skydance.
Advertisement
“The Paramount combination with Warner Bros. Discovery is an industry-defining moment, and TKO stands to benefit. Paramount+ is our primary partner across UFC and Zuffa Boxing, and the addition of TNT Sports and HBO, once called the heart and soul of boxing, under the Skydance umbrella sets the table for more reach, increased engagement, and significantly more scale. As investors, you should be bullish about what this means for TKO,” Shapiro said in a prepared statement during the call.
UFC’s seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount+ began in January. The arrangement, which eliminated the pay-per-view model most UFC fans were accustomed to for marquee cards, has been welcomed by fans for its simplicity and affordability compared to the old model. However, the deal has so far limited UFC’s linear television exposure.
Aside from a select few simulcasts on CBS, UFC has been off linear television for nearly a year. Under its prior agreements with Disney, which dated back to 2018, ESPN would televise prelims for pay-per-view events on its linear network, and 10 Fight Night events each year would also air on ESPN. Before the ESPN deal, Fox and FX (which was then owned by Fox) also provided a fair amount of linear exposure for UFC in a deal that began in 2011. These windows provided important promotional opportunities for UFC as it became more popular among the American audience. But for the first time in more than 15 years, UFC found itself largely off of linear television.
The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger could soon change that. In March, the company told investors its deal had the “flexibility” to place UFC fights on other platforms, opening the door for events on TNT or HBO. This type of expansion would provide the best of both worlds for UFC; it already secured the massive payday inherent to a streaming-exclusive deal with Paramount+, but now it can also leverage the reach of TNT for select simulcasts.
Advertisement
It’s unclear when Skydance could begin to utilize TNT or HBO for UFC events, but with both sides seemingly on board with the move, one could imagine it’ll happen sooner rather than later.
“We are fully aligned strategically with Skydance, and frankly, they have made a huge investment in the UFC, and we want to see that we help them maximize their returns,” Shapiro told investors.
The post TKO president teases expansion of UFC, Zuffa Boxing to TNT Sports and HBO appeared first on Awful Announcing.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
