UK fans: UFC almost certainly moving to Sky Sports in August!

[Judo Thai Boxer]

I really hope this doesn't happen, I'm not paying for 2 sky sports channels, I think I'll be streaming it

 

[B-Man]

Well that will be the end of me watching it on TV for the time being. Will have to take up piracy...

 

[TheShockmaster]

I'd be surprised if Sky try to go the PPV route, it's never worked for other sports over here.

"PremPlus failed to live up to Sky's expectations as few British football fans were willing to pay for individual matches on top of paying a monthly subscription for other matches. After six seasons on air it closed down at the end of the 2006-07 football season having broadcast 270 matches live and exclusive from the English Premier League. The last ever game shown on PremPlus was Aston Villa v Sheffield United. This marked the end, at least for the time being, of attempts to introduce pay-per-view into the British sports television market, outside of occasional wrestling and boxing matches."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PremPlus

As stated by others, even those occasional boxing events haven't brought in the numbers they hoped.

Exactly, I used boxing as an example but forgot all about "Prem Plus" what a crock of shit. Just goes to show PPV is dead in England bar the hardcore WWE fans. If football can't succeed on PPV then nothing can. There's no way UFC would do PPV here unless it was an insanely stacked UK card and even that would be a few years down the line after growth.

Latest rumours are that after losing Premier League football rights next season and UFC rights in August, ESPN UK could be shutting down

 

[jackUKmma]

Why are people worrying about PPV? It's so far down the line, if ever, it's unreal. I reckons sky sports is in a lot more homes than ESPN. It would be a brilliant move if its true

 

[KJGould]

Bumping this thread.

Sky's a no go, looks like it's the new BT Sport launching this summer.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/4/1...t-sport-in-uk-this-summer-after-espn-purchase

 

[Tibbles]

Bumping this thread.

Sky's a no go, looks like it's the new BT Sport launching this summer.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/4/1...t-sport-in-uk-this-summer-after-espn-purchase

Thanks for the update.

I'm pretty concerned tbh - BT have developed a pretty crappy broadcasting reputation so far:

BT Vision isn't without controversy though, topping the premium subscription TV service providers in customer service complaints last year according to OfCom, the UK's communications regulator, which claims it received almost 4 times as many complaints as its nearest rival (Virgin Media). It will be interesting to see if any BT Vision customers, or even Sky and Virgin Media customers will have any issues subscribing in a few months time.

 

[Michael13]

The original article in this thread makes no sense atall..

It says that Sky Sports has no interest in MMA....so how does that mean the UFC would be on Sky Sports in August?

 

[Arsenal FC]

I thought the reason the UFC on Sky keeps falling through is because Sky want their own production team & commentators, like they do with boxing?

Wow that would suck.

The current situation suits me fine. I have Sky as well as ESPN but i bet Sky will introduce PPV and if that happens i won't be paying to simply record the event. I love MMA but i'm not staying up til 6am to watch an event no matter how good it is.

Edit - just seen this was an old thread that has been bumped. Anyway i'm a little nervous about this, really hope i don't miss out.

 

[ZroC]

The original article in this thread makes no sense atall..

It says that Sky Sports has no interest in MMA....so how does that mean the UFC would be on Sky Sports in August?

quit using logic damn you