MMA Junkie reports that the UFC is planning 50 worldwide events in 2014 and there will be a new online/digital network which will be the exclusive way to watch some of these events.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, White gave the basics of the new network which will have some of the international events online for North Americans interested in seeing those events.
The organization will still have events on PPV, Fox, FS1 and FS2 in 2014.
Payout Perspective:
Lorenzo Fertitta had indicated that the UFC would be having more events but not quite 50 as White states. Regardless of the amount of events, the reason for the addition of events is to expand its global footprint. The interesting wrinkle is the online network it is seeking to establish. While there are no details, we may assume it will be a monthly subscription service where subscribers pay a certain amount for these additional events. Time difference may be the reason for not having these international events on FS1 or FS2. However, it was announced that TUF: Nations will air on FS1 starting this January so fans will still get its international flavor of fighters.
Certainly the UFC will be gaging the interest of an online network and see whether it catches on to see if it could be monetized.
Dana was wearing a “UFC Network” hat in some recent interviews. Now we know why.
I wonder which will launch first — the UFC Network or the WWE Network? My money’s on UFC.
UFC Network sounds like it’s just going to be on the internet, like Hulu, whereas WWE is trying to launch theirs on cable, which is much harder since you have to get your cable partners to agree.
2014 will be interesting. Looks like the UFC Europe and UFC Asia regional shows are advancing. Are they gonna call it the UFC European Tour and UFC Asian Tour?
Going from 33 to 50 events in a single year is a huge leap. A lot of this will no doubt depend on the quality of people that UFC has hired to run their European and Asian operations.
Knowing Zuffa, this will probably be way overpriced.
Paying more for crappier cards…no thanks.
The current UFC network, is only for Latin America (minus Brazil), it launched earlier this year and airs all the PPVs, Fabricio Werdum does the Spanish commentary for that network.
I could see the UFC starting one in a few years though, I think the WWE Network will be a success, people are more likely to pay a $10-$20 subscription a month for a 24 hour network as opposed to $45-$55 a month for a 3 hour PPV they can easily just steal, like the WWE I would assume they would still keep their big PPVs.