It was reported earlier this year that Strikeforce programming distributor Shine International had inked a deal with Turner to televise events in Latin America. MMAPayout has now learned that SPACE TV (Canal SPACE) will be televising Strikeforce programming exclusively in Latin America and the Caribbean starting with the Shamrock vs Diaz event this Wednesday, September 29 at midnight, with a replay set for Sunday morning at 10 AM.
SPACE TV Schedule:
September 29, 2010 : Frank Shamrock vs Nick Díaz
October 6, 2010: Evangelista Billy vs Mike Aina
October 13, 2010: Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler vs Jake Shields
October 20, 2010: Joey “Smokin” Villaseñor vs Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos
October 27, 2010: Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
November 3, 2010: Tim Kennedy vs Zak Cummings
November 10, 2010: BillyEvangelista vs Jorge Gurgel
November 17, 2010: Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley vs Rudy Bears
November 24, 2010: Cung Le vs Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith
December 1, 2010: Marius Zaromskis vs Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos
December 8, 2010: Sarah Kaufman vs Tayako Hashi
December 15, 2010: Lavar Johnson vs Loloho Mahe
December 22, 2010: Dan Henderson vs Jake Shields
December 29, 2010: Alistair “Demolition Man” vs Overeem Brett Rogers
January 5, 2011: Roger “Relentless” Bowling vs Bobby Voelker
January 12, 2011: Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler vs Renato “Babalu” Sobral
Payout Perspective:
Strikeforce has had it’s mind set on expanding as a global brand after they inked a deal earlier this year with Shine International, when Shine made an announcement that they would be selling more than 70 hours of Strikeforce’s mixed martial arts (MMA) programming in six markets across Europe, Australia and Latin America.
SPACE TV is distributed in all of Latin America and the Caribbean, including countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Mexico. SPACE not only shows high level combat sports such as world class boxing and now Mixed Martial Arts, it also has a deal with the NBA and televises Hollywood blockbuster movies and various TV shows. SPACE TV was acquired by Turner Broadcasting Systems (a division of Time Warner) in 2007, in a package deal with channels such as Fashion TV, HTV, Infinito, I.Sat, Much Music, and Retro. It is now currently being packaged with the previous mentioned channels along with TNT, TCM, truTV, and Tooncast. The deal with SPACE will open up the Latin American and Caribbean market for the Strikeforce brand, set to reach millions of new viewers and for the most part, introduce the sport of MMA to new fans.
Curious on why they are starting with oldies and not even introducing anything current until after Jan 2011 ?
i can see wanting to get people caught up to speed , but this is a little much , why not bleed in current events with oldies but goodies?
Maybe Im missing something.
tavis,
I’ll go with the knee-jerk reaction of blaming Showtime anytime something with SF doesn’t make sense. I can imagine that Showtime, since they are producing this content, has a lock on the rights and is limiting what SF can distribute through other channels. Just a guess.
tavis, Diego:
Usually, all their TV deals are not for live fights, but for the library and a delayed show. Usually, its a few days delayed. SPACE told me that they will see how well the content does first and foremost, but showing events delayed by 1 or 2 days is not out of the question.
Great to see other organisations branching out! We miss out on so much in the UK hope sky start picking stuff up soon!
mma clothing:
Strikeforce is shown in the UK on Bravo and Bravo 2 usually on Sunday night or Monday night, if you weren’t aware. =)
Thanks for the clarification Jose. That’s good to know.
UPDATE:
The first show was televised this past Wednesday, and from all the feedback I’ve read, it looks like it was successful in terms of fans liking the content (not sure about viewership). It already appears that many Latin American MMA fans just witnessed their first MMA experience on HD and many new fans that aren’t MMA fans are now being introduce to the sport and to the Strikeforce brand.