Variety: ESPN, Fox Sports Team Up for UFC TV-Rights Bid

The live stuff? I definitely see,
I did an edit regarding catalogue.

But when I broke the Amazon news/interest, they were supposedly going to put the catalogue on Prime, but add the live cards as an additional purchase.

If UFC were willing to do that with Amazon, I can see it with ESPN.

I'm guessing the $120-180 difference in yearly price (as per article) is due to a difference in deal structure
I see. Well regardless I hope fightpass doesn't go away. It's really underrated. Even if the fightpass catalogue stays in tact but new events go to ESPN+, I'll be pretty irritated.
 
I am not paying leftist ESPN for UFC content. A shame, I am happy with the PPV/Fox/FS1 tiered system, with the lower and mid tier free, and really weak fights on FightPass that I do not watch anyway.


<2>

Keep cryin
 
Meltzer said that if this deal is accepted that UFC should be valued at about $6b in 2019 (going by 20x yearly profit average)-3
They were valued at $5b in September
That would be a 50% increase in 2.5 - 3 years
 
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if all of the FP stuff is given out for $5 a month as opposed to $10 that I pay now, I'll take it.

I like FP, the few extra fights per card + just being able to go back and view a lot of that old fight library is worth it
I doubt they are going to get rid of FP. I can kinda guess how this plays out. early prelims on FP, prelims on this espn streaming bs, and the main card on fox/fs1 or ppv depending on the event.
 
As I mentioned in March, UFC could not get more then $250m from Fox so they were looking to split up programming between two networks
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http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-fox-sports-ufc-bid-1202755660/

Rivals ESPN and Fox Sports have teamed up to bid for television rights for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Variety has learned that the two companies have recently proposed to split the UFC TV package in a move that would bring as many as 15 fight events to new subscription streaming service ESPN+.

According to sources with knowledge of the proposal, ESPN has signaled that it would be willing to pay $120-180 million per year to add the Endeavor-owned mixed martial arts league to its collection of live-event rights.

Fox, which currently pays $120 million per year UFC rights, would be willing see that number increase to a little more than $200 million. Fox’s current package includes four Saturday-night fights per year on Fox Broadcasting and a number of fight events on cabler Fox Sports 1 that has increased annually under its current agreement. A joint bid with ESPN would see Fox’s total number of events decline slightly.

Representative for ESPN, Fox Sports, and Endeavor declined to comment.

For ESPN, a UFC deal would provide premium live-event content for the fledgling ESPN+ service not currently available on the company’s linear cable channels. ESPN+ launched last week at $4.99 per month with a mix of content including select games from MLB, NHL and out-of-market MLS games. UFC could mark the first significant deal for Kevin Mayer, who was recently promoted to run a direct-to-consumer unit at ESPN parent company Disney, and the network’s new president, James Pitaro.

Endeavor has reportedly sought $300-$400 million per year in a new television package. The agency acquired UFC in 2016 for roughly $4 billion with private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and KKR — part of an aggressive push into original sports content. While still known as WME, Endeavor bought sports agency IMG in 2013 for $2.3 billion and bought Professional Bull Riders in 2015 for a reported $100 million.

But potential network partners have balked at the high asking price to televise UFC, which also distributes fight events through its own pay-per-view and OTT platforms. UFC has suffered significant ratings declines in recent years. In 2017, Fox’s Saturday-night broadcasts fell 22% in average total viewers from the previous year at just under 2 million. “UFC Fight Night” on FS1 averaged 795,000 viewers, down 17%.

Fox signed a seven-year television deal with UFC in 2011, and late last year put in a roughly $200 million bid to secure those rights — far lower than the Endeavor asking price. A joint deal with ESPN would keep Fox in business with UFC at a time of transition for the company, which is in the process of selling the bulk of its entertainment divisions to Disney.

An exclusive negotiation period between UFC and Fox expired late last year; the MMA league has explored options from handing over the rights to a traditional network like Fox or one of the growing number of tech giants who have displayed an increased appetite for sports rights over the past 12 months. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has also considered holding onto the rights and distributing over the league’s own streaming service, a possibility that received renewed speculation last month when Endeavor spent $250 million to acquire streaming provider NeuLion.

While Fox and Disney have fought each other in years past to secure various U.S. TV sports packages, UFC would not mark the first league to which these rivals have shared rights. Both companies currently split rights to several leagues including Big Ten Conference, MLS and Pac 12 football.

A post-acquisition 21st Century Fox would consist of a slimmed-down Fox Sports, Fox News, and a Fox Broadcasting uncoupled from its lucrative television studio counterpart. The company, referred to as New Fox internally, is expected to be driven primarily by sports and news programming.


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If that is the offer, I'd be shocked if they did not take it

But I been out of the loop due to a hospitalization

Thanks for the update as always.

U r easily one of the better posters here. Feel better dude.
 
wait so if espn is in for up to 180m/yr and fox is in for a little over 200m/yr does this mean UFC is looking at nearly a 400m/yr deal?

what in the heylllll?!?!?!??????????????????????

ufc is dying
 
Then yet again, what the fuck is fight pass for then? Making one streaming service for your library and then putting other cards on a completely different service is absolute trash.
For the other 500000000 non-UFC events a year they show?
 
Thanks for the update, Frankie. Hope all is well. This forum needs you.
 
If they do this, it is really pretty shitty. Not even on a cable channel, straight streaming. Im not paying for cable, fightpass and espn + and not be able to dvr the espn fights. Fuck the wme for raping this sport to death. It really was something special and this WILL fuck things up for them, not make it better. Money does truly ruin everything
 
If this is done, fightpass better show the espn fights or espn+ should be included in the fight pass subscription
 
Anyone tried ESPN+ yet? Is it better than Fightpass, Fox Sports Go, NBC Sports Gold, any other sports streaming platform, or more of the same?
 
If this is done, fightpass better show the espn fights or espn+ should be included in the fight pass subscription
If the deal goes through American fight pass will be no more. I'm just wondering if FOX fight night events will be catalogued on the espn+ service.
 
<2>

Keep cryin
Who is crying? I will just watch less UFC content, particularly since the E+ content will likely be watered down anyway, if present FS1/FP cards are any indicator. Maybe ESPN, woke as it is, will take all the WMMA fights?
 
As I mentioned in March, UFC could not get more then $250m from Fox so they were looking to split up programming between two networks
-

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-fox-sports-ufc-bid-1202755660/

Rivals ESPN and Fox Sports have teamed up to bid for television rights for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Variety has learned that the two companies have recently proposed to split the UFC TV package in a move that would bring as many as 15 fight events to new subscription streaming service ESPN+.

According to sources with knowledge of the proposal, ESPN has signaled that it would be willing to pay $120-180 million per year to add the Endeavor-owned mixed martial arts league to its collection of live-event rights.

Fox, which currently pays $120 million per year UFC rights, would be willing see that number increase to a little more than $200 million. Fox’s current package includes four Saturday-night fights per year on Fox Broadcasting and a number of fight events on cabler Fox Sports 1 that has increased annually under its current agreement. A joint bid with ESPN would see Fox’s total number of events decline slightly.

Representative for ESPN, Fox Sports, and Endeavor declined to comment.

For ESPN, a UFC deal would provide premium live-event content for the fledgling ESPN+ service not currently available on the company’s linear cable channels. ESPN+ launched last week at $4.99 per month with a mix of content including select games from MLB, NHL and out-of-market MLS games. UFC could mark the first significant deal for Kevin Mayer, who was recently promoted to run a direct-to-consumer unit at ESPN parent company Disney, and the network’s new president, James Pitaro.

Endeavor has reportedly sought $300-$400 million per year in a new television package. The agency acquired UFC in 2016 for roughly $4 billion with private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and KKR — part of an aggressive push into original sports content. While still known as WME, Endeavor bought sports agency IMG in 2013 for $2.3 billion and bought Professional Bull Riders in 2015 for a reported $100 million.

But potential network partners have balked at the high asking price to televise UFC, which also distributes fight events through its own pay-per-view and OTT platforms. UFC has suffered significant ratings declines in recent years. In 2017, Fox’s Saturday-night broadcasts fell 22% in average total viewers from the previous year at just under 2 million. “UFC Fight Night” on FS1 averaged 795,000 viewers, down 17%.

Fox signed a seven-year television deal with UFC in 2011, and late last year put in a roughly $200 million bid to secure those rights — far lower than the Endeavor asking price. A joint deal with ESPN would keep Fox in business with UFC at a time of transition for the company, which is in the process of selling the bulk of its entertainment divisions to Disney.

An exclusive negotiation period between UFC and Fox expired late last year; the MMA league has explored options from handing over the rights to a traditional network like Fox or one of the growing number of tech giants who have displayed an increased appetite for sports rights over the past 12 months. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has also considered holding onto the rights and distributing over the league’s own streaming service, a possibility that received renewed speculation last month when Endeavor spent $250 million to acquire streaming provider NeuLion.

While Fox and Disney have fought each other in years past to secure various U.S. TV sports packages, UFC would not mark the first league to which these rivals have shared rights. Both companies currently split rights to several leagues including Big Ten Conference, MLS and Pac 12 football.

A post-acquisition 21st Century Fox would consist of a slimmed-down Fox Sports, Fox News, and a Fox Broadcasting uncoupled from its lucrative television studio counterpart. The company, referred to as New Fox internally, is expected to be driven primarily by sports and news programming.


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If that is the offer, I'd be shocked if they did not take it

But I been out of the loop due to a hospitalization
Hope you're doing better dude.

Looking up what ESPN+ has to offer:
The service includes live MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, college sports, PGA golf, Top Rank Boxing, Grand Slam Tennis matches, United Soccer League, cricket, rugby, Canadian Football League, English Football League, and UEFA nations league games.
Damn . . . if it had NFL, I'd consider it as that's pretty much the only other sport I watch. I do know that ESPN3 (ESPN's live website) had aired GLORY in the past. Wonder if they'll air that as well on ESPN+? If so, then I'd buy it.
 
Four weeks later, its 100 million
img_1110-gif.368527


and then the deal doesnt turn into anything.


ps: Im from the future.
 
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Not sure splitting between two networks and moving fightpass to a different platform is good for fans..
 
Thanks for your threads & comments Frankie. Wishing you a healthy & happy recovery.

Interesting this gets floated out there. Usually investment banking deals are tight-lipped until an announcement. Wonder what's the purpose of leaking discussions. Some are saying 'to gauge fan reaction' but I doubt that's the only reason. It's apparent the 'splitting the roster' stuff was met with unanimously negative fan reaction, though it was probably nonsense from the start. If it's for leverage, my guess it's coming from Endeavor. But exactly how would that help any party to negotiations?
 
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