Fox Sports Australia reports that the UFC and Australian pay-television company Foxtel have entered into a two year agreement to air UFC content on its brethren of networks.
Via Fox Sports:
Foxtel will be the only place on Australian television to see LIVE fights and the most popular shows from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) under a two-year, multi-channel agreement involving Fuel TV, Fox Sports, FX, and Main Event
The announcement comes on the heels of the start of taping the second international TUF in Australia.
The breakdown of programming is as follows. It is similar to that in the US:
Fuel TV will be the main hub for UFC content on Foxtel including PPV prelims, UFC on Fuel TV envent, UFC on Fox and UFC on FX events including pre and post shows for both where they are produced. Also, Live weigh ins and a new series Ultimate Insider.
FX will provide first run and archive series of The Ultimate Fighter including the UFC’s first locally commissioned series The Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. UK – The Smashes.
Fox Sports will for the First time screen Live UFC fights. At least six Live events per year will air on Fox Sports’ primary channels and will feature the best fights available outside the PPV events.
Main Event will continue to offer the best UFC action from across the glove with Live coverage of every major PPV event.
Payout Perspective:
A logical deal considering News Corp.’s stake in Foxtel. As we know, News Corp. is the parent company of Fox and the UFC has the television deal with Fox. The deal exemplifies the global expansion of the UFC. We witnessed earlier this year the UFC enter into a television contract in India and is eyeing other markets to strategically place its product. The Australian UFC market is growing and the television deal should assist many Aussie MMA fans in watching the UFC. It should also be good business for Foxtel as it is my understanding that one must subscribe to these channels.
I wonder what this deal is worth per year to Zuffa. They’re building a robust portfolio of television deals (not just FOX
It’s nice to hear we’ll be getting more coverage on Foxtel… but the thing that will continue to suck is that FuelTV and MainEvent are both standard definiton channels. The Fox Sports channels are HD, but very little live UFC content will be airing on them from the looks of it.
C’mon Foxtel, c’mon FuelTV, c’mon MainEvent.. upgrade to HD.