Today, the UFC announced via press release the signing of a new television distribution agreement with Asia’s ASN HD sports channel that will put the promotion’s product into markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
UFC® SIGNS DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH ASIA’S ASN HD SPORTS CHANNEL
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – UFC® today announced it has reached a long-term agreement with ASN, the first 24-hour HD sports channel in Asia to distribute UFC programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
ASN will officially launch UFC programming on April 10 with UFC 112: SILVA vs. MAIA, a live event taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and featuring two world title fights. In addition to broadcasting live UFC events, ASN will also feature UFC® Unleashed™, a compilation highlight show featuring some of the best fight action in UFC history as well as select seasons of The Ultimate Fighter® reality television series.
Thomas Kressner, CEO of ASN, said, “ASN is thrilled to deliver UFC, the world’s fastest-growing sports organization to audiences in Asia and with HD production quality, our viewers will not miss a single striking detail.”
“We are excited to sign a deal with ASN and to distribute UFC on this HD sports channel,” said Dana White, UFC President. “Asia is a huge market for us, it has a deep-rooted history and appreciation for the martial arts. We are thrilled to be working with ASN and to deliver the UFC to all of our fans in Asia.”
Launched in 2009, ASN broadcasts exclusive, thrilling action from some of America’s biggest sports leagues including the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), NCAA college championship basketball and football and NASCAR. Other programs include Formula Drift and extreme sports. With about 20 live games or events per week, ASN brings to Asian audiences more American sports action than ever before.
About All Sports Network
All Sports Network (ASN), launched in 2009, is the second sports network from Yes Television (Hong Kong) Limited. Yes TV is a media company which produces and distributes premium sports channels across Asia. Its football network Goal TV, comprises two 24-hour channels featuring top European football clubs and live games from major European leagues. Goal TV launched across 12 countries in 2004. ASN is the newest addition to Yes TV’s lineup, and is the broadcast channel for some of North America’s biggest professional and collegiate sports leagues, including the NFL, NHL, NCAA and NASCAR. ASN is the region’s first 24 hour high-definition sports channel. Together, GOAL TV & ASN entertain more than 100 million fans each season through their broadcast partners in the region.
www.asn.tv
Payout Perspective:
The UFC continues to benefit from Lorenzo Fertitta’s presence as the company locks up yet another distribution deal to continue the expansion of its brand on a global level. However, I’m also inclined to believe that Flash Entertainment might have had a hand in this deal as well. Yes TV is the parent company of ASN, and the following is directly listed from their website:
Today, the company has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and United Arab Emirates, and has key competences in sports content acquisition, channel production, channel management, marketing and distribution.
There doesn’t appear to be a lot of information available regarding the size/reach of ASN, other than the quote at the bottom of the release stating that Yes TV entertains 100 million fans every season.
Truth be told, it’s probably not a huge deal. But when you combine this deal with some of the smaller television deals the UFC has done in China, the Sohu.com deal, WOW in Japan, and One HD in Australia, you start to see the larger picture – it’s all adding up.
I’m very excited for the future of the UFC and MMA in general. This isn’t what a casual fan would say is big news, but, when was the last time you heard Strikeforce announce a deal like this? As usual, the UFC are the pioneers of MMA. I’m so tired of hearing Dana White haters try to down grade him and the UFC. I dont know if UFC will be the biggest sport in the world, but, it may well be the 2nd biggest. Good job Lorenzo, Dana and Flash Entertainment.
“The UFC continues to benefit from Lorenzo Fertitta’s presence as the company locks up yet another distribution deal to continue the expansion of its brand on a global level.”
Kelly, where do you get this is a Lorenzo achievement and not a Dana White achievement? I didnt see anything that says who is responsible for the signing. I just hope things get tot where Lorenzo gets credit for everything good and Dana gets everything bad. Dana has done wonders for the sport and very few bad moves. Yet there is no shortage of people who second guess everything he does from MMA media block to limiting fighter sponsors. It always works out for the best. Im sure Lorenzo has some say in this partnership but i feel that would be the case with or without his new position in the UFC.
Lorenzo’s job is to handle international expansion, specifically with regard to television distribution. He’s largely, if not solely, responsible for a lot of the deals that have opened up in the last few months – that comes from numerous people, including Dana.
I think its safe to say all were involved. But i think its a big assumption to give Lorenzo all the credit when he sint mentioned and the only comments released on the deal were from Dana. No big deal just wonder if there was more information i want aware of. Thanks for answering.
BTW, i wasnt accusing you are dana bashing lol. I was just explaining why i was interested. You do see that on other sites.
No worries. You guys keep me honest, I appreciate it!
bill hardiek: I’m not trying to play smartass, but actually Strikeforce announced some new TV deal like week or two back. It was Canada I think. And they are also pretty globaly broadcasted when they do their thing with M-1 Global (M-1 has a lot of similar deals).
I don’t want to say, that Strikeforce does better job than UFC, but it is also not right to say that Strikeforce is doing nothing. (for the record: Bellator also scored some Canada deal in addition to his triple deal (Telemundo-Fox-NBC).
And BTW: UFC is NOT a sport, MMA is. And also, MMA will never overcome soccer in popularity 🙂