What happened to the UFC channel?
Last fall Dana White predicted in an interview with Broadcasting & Cable that the UFC would start its own network…
Last fall Dana White predicted in an interview with Broadcasting & Cable that the UFC would start its own network within the next couple years. At the time he also expressed an eagerness to bring UFC fights to broadcast television in the U.S. for the first time. There were credible reports that the organization was in serious talks with Comcast o buy a controlling interest in the G4 cable channel. It was explained at today press conference that the company ultimately decided to focus on what it does best.
“We looked at a number of different deals, different structures, different opportunities, one of which was the opportunity to joint venture or launch our own network,” said company co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta. “At the end of the day, when we looked at everything that was on the table, it just felt that this license structure made a lot of sense with FOX.
“I think that a UFC channel would be very successful, but we sat down and kind of thought about it a little bit and said, ‘You know what we do best? We put on great fights, and we promote great fights. We’re not in the business of running a network.’ As far as the lifecycle of the company and where we’re at, it just made more sense to do this deal with FOX.”
Could the FOX owned FUEL TV which will be airing some UFC content eventually rebrand into a a UFC-only outlet?
“Early on, there was some discussion,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “I think as the deal points kind of became clearer, what we ended up doing was a pure rights deal. FUEL will remain FUEL. It’s still a discussion.
“We’re a partnership. We’re in business together, and there’s going to be a lot of back and forth. FUEL will have a significant amount of UFC supporting programming and live programming throughout the year, but today, I couldn’t give you a percentage necessarily.”