A 24 hour marathon of UFC programming featuring five show premieres will kick off 2012 as the UFC goes full force on Fuel TV. Fox Sports Media Group announced the debut via press release today.
Fuel will host the first UFC live weigh-ins on Friday, January 13th and Fuel will have the prelim bouts for January 20th’s UFC on FX the following Friday.
Via Fox Sports Media Group:
In 2012, FUEL TV telecasts more than 2,000 hours of UFC programming, with more than 100 hours of live fights, weigh-ins, preliminary bouts, and pre- and post-fight shows. In the New Year, FUEL TV offers more UFC programming than any network has ever offered.
Payout Perspective:
Despite not going through with a UFC Network, it appears that the UFC will have a de facto network with Fuel TV. The 24 hour marathon is a good way to kick off the programming. There are no bowl games on January 1 as the usual glut of games will occur on January 2nd. The NFL will have games on Sunday, January 1st although only a few games will mean that much considering its the last day of the regular season. It will be interesting to see how the UFC and Fox will advertise as most people do not know where the Fuel channel is. For instance, on DirecTV, the channel is in the 600s. We’ll see if channel placement is a barrier for some casual viewers.
I think Channel placement will be a factor. I think it was a huge factor when Verses settled with DTV and they were placed right along side Fuel in the 600’s. The UFC and WEC numbers took a huge hit and no one wanted to blame the channel placement. I think in the 600’s you lose everyone looking for something on to watch. Those people flick around the dial between 200-300 which is where all the most watch shows are. To get to the 600’s you have to flick through dozens of news shows, Foreign tv shows, 50 movie channels that most people dont get, then the porno channels, Then you get to the Fox Sports Channels. So really you only get the hardcore fans who are specifically looking for the network and know where to find it and punch in 618. But Fox does have th platform to get more people punching in that channel. So we will see. But they have had those channels for a long time and they dont get great ratings.
Fuel TV’s market penetration (or lack thereof) is also a factor.
Good points, you would not find Fuel on Verizon unless you were looking (I found it when they starting showing delayed Shark Fights). They are channel 198 which is between Fearnet 197 and ABC Family 199.
If they could get a channel change, 91-94 are open (90 is Versus), 75 is open (after ESPN 2 and before Comcast sports) or 77-83 are also open.
I am not sure how easy it is to get a channel moved though.