Strikeforce has officially announced several international television distribution deals with companies in the UK, Italy, Ukraine, Australia, and Latin America.
STRIKEFORCE GOES GLOBAL
Shine International Closes Deals across Europe, Australia and Latin America
LOS ANGELES, February 2, 2010 – Shine International has expanded the STRIKEFORCE brand internationally, selling more than 70 hours of STRIKEFORCE’s mixed martial arts (MMA) programming in six markets across Europe, Australia and Latin America. Virgin Media Television’s Bravo in the UK, Turner in Latin America, FX in Portugal, Ukraine’s Megasport, Seven Network Australia and Dahlia TV in Italy have all purchased STRIKEFORCE’s library of TV programming.
“STRIKEFORCE is the leader in mixed martial arts content as proven by the huge demand for their programming around the world. They have the world’s best fighters, the world’s best events and they know how to translate that into fast-paced programming that captures what will soon be the most popular sport in the world,” said Chris Grant, President of Shine International.
This includes 30 episodes and 56 hours of fights that have aired on NBC and SHOWTIME®, respectively. Internationally distributed content includes upcoming live fights through February 2012 as well as STRIKEFORCE Challengers fights, pitting STRIKEFORCE up-and-comers against each other. After signing a landmark deal to air live events on SHOWTIME last year, STRIKEFORCE earned the premium network its highest MMA rating ever on August 15, 2009 with “Carano vs. Cyborg.”
Payout Perspective:
We first heard about this deal last week when Shine International – the agency that brokered the deals – announced the agreement through its own press release. Strikeforce, obviously bogged down with Miami, chose to wait until this week.
These aren’t huge deals, but they do help to spread the Strikeforce brand beyond the United States. Fedor and M-1 are promoting some Strikeforce content, but only the co-promoted events and those are labelled as M-1 events at the international level.
“These aren’t huge deals”.
I have to disagree since Seven is the equivalent of NBC in Australia and Bravo very popular as well in the UK. I believe even “The Voice” who resides in Australia said it was HUGE. Other networks like Dahlia TV in Italy are very popular since they carry soccer and the NFL.
I’ve heard the same thing as Joseph that these networks are equivalent to NBC.
That’s fair, but I meant more in terms of time slot. My understanding was that they weren’t guaranteed any sort of prime time placement.
NBC is big in the US, but the Strikeforce deal on NBC wasn’t big by any means (shown at 2am).
I’ll dig into the time slot issue and get back to you guys (or, if you have found the info…please pass along!). I don’t mind being corrected!
KP
Any word on the actual reach of these networks? Overly broad comparisons don’t mean much to me.