Luke Thomas over at Bloodyelbow.com covers an interesting situation brewing between satellite carrier DirecTV and the network channel home of the WEC, Versus. The two are currently involved in last minute negotiations to extend the distribution agreement, which expires August 31st. An impasse and prolonged battle are possible, something that could result in DirecTV possibly dropping Versus (and hence the WEC) from its line-up.
Thomas sums up the situation fairly accurately:
The crux of the issue is that Versus believes it’s beefed up sponsor-friendly sports programming (both traditional sports in hockey, college football as well as combat sports in the form of the WEC, boxing, Contender and Contender: Asia, etc.) as well as adding enough households to warrant a higher fee for their product. Clearly, DirecTV believes Versus is asking for a price outside of the existing market value, hence the impasse.
Payout Perspective:
The numerous blogs that have already covered this situation have probably done it justice. I will address, however, the potential impact of this on the UFC-WEC merger that I discussed in detail earlier this week.
The fact that Versus is asking for more is nothing astonishing or earth-shattering; and, it’s probably not a concern for the UFC, nor is it likely to be a factor in their decision whether or not to merge with the WEC. However, if these stalled negotiations becoming something of a habit and Versus starts losing big chunks of their 75 million subscriber base, you can bet the UFC will revisit the situation.
I’d also just like to point out that, since announcing the flyweight division in January, we’ve yet to see any fights at 125 from the WEC. If the UFC and WEC were to merge, there would likely only be seven divisions: 135 and 145, plus the existing 155, 170, 185, 205, and 265lbs.
Integrating 135 and 145, plus a handful of top 155ers from the WEC, into the UFC would be difficult enough. Forget trying to build a new 125lbs division from scratch. The purpose of the merger would be to add marketable entities to the UFC line-up and strengthen its main card offerings, adding an unknown set of flyweights to the fray would defeat that purpose.
Check out more on the idea of a UFC-WEC merger.
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