MMA Junkie reports that the UFC has a new television deal with Televisa Networks which will give it an exclusive distribution agreement to air UFC programming in 20 Spanish speaking countries in Latin America.
A subscription channel with UFC content will be available later in the year. Additionally, Four events will be shown live on free to air networks in Mexico and Latin America.
Via MMA Junkie:
“The launch of the UFC Channel will be a game changer for our sport and its fans throughout Latin America,” UFC co-owner and co-founder Lorenzo Fertitta stated. “We are giving millions of fans across the region complete access to all our live events and programming for the first time.”
Payout Perspective:
The deal is part of the globalization plan by the UFC. The deal will help promote the sport and garner more fans and attract them to generate more revenue for the company through its subscription based channel. The UFC will likely bolster the profile of Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez in order to attract fans. This will be interesting to see how Cain does and what the UFC will do to market him. Another mention in the article is the addition of another weight division, the 115 lb strawweights which would be popular with the Mexican fighters.
Isn’t the men’s strawweight division in it’s infancy even at the regional level? I thought I heard that the first sanctioned fight for men’s 115 lbs. was occurring soon. Seems like it would take years to establish enough talented fighters to bring the weight class to the UFC.
Isn’t the men’s strawweight division in it’s infancy even at the regional level? I thought I heard that the first sanctioned fight for men’s 115 lbs. was occurring soon. Seems like it would take years to establish enough talented fighters to bring the weight class to the UFC.
Is Televisa broadcasting UFC events on the main channel like boxing as well as offering a subscription channel or will this be a subscription only channel?
SS:
I think it will have both main and subscription only.
The UFC is gaining quite the momentum in Mexico, but most sport executives in Televisa are big time boxing loyals who actually end up using the popularity of the UFC as a vehicle to promote boxing. A few years back they even went as far as promoting UFC events only to show you boxing fights… then mysteriously the UFC events were pulled back from Network TV (despite astonishing ratings) and placed in obscure satellite subscription channels – which has been the norm ever since.
Televisa Deportes gives the biggest coverage to Futból (Soccer), then in the following order: Boxing, Beisbol (Baseball), Lucha Libre, NFL, NBA, F1 Racing, Nascar Mexico, etc. The UFC gets very little coverage unless Cain Velazquez is fighting, at that point you are actually dealing with Mainstream coverage… but only for Cain. Nobody knows what AMM is (Artes Marciales Mixtas) AMM = UFC.
I doubt things will change, even with this deal… watch them use the UFC as a tool to promote even more boxing in Mexico and Latin America, which i am fine with… but still pretty deceptive of them, especially when they change the programming to whatever the hell they want.
Thanks for the info Logical. With the UFC being on there before and being moved. It may very well be possible that made sure to address your concerns before finalizing a deal. The UFC over the years are very careful in the deals they sign to assure they get what they want and are treated right and have control and leverage. I don’t think they would allow themselves to be used like that without something to gain from it. Like a mutual trade of like Fox does with UFC and NASCAR to get the fans to cross over.
I don’t see the subscription channel doing well at all.
Boxing owns the Mexican market with regular showcasing on Televisa and TV Azteca. Good to see the UFC try to grow into markets that boxing has been in for decades and flourishes when given to the masses.
Boxing will always be king in Mexico.
Boxing is a poor mans sport, ain’t no poor kids got money for gi’s BJJ,Wrestling,Kickboxing training. That’s a big reason MMA will never become truly global like boxing. The rules are made for Wrestlers and there are very few countries where wrestling is a easy access sport.