The Sports Business Journal (subscription required) provides further details on the UFC subscription based digital network which will launch in January.
In addition to “more than a dozen” international UFC events, the network will include “behind-the-scenes” programming from all its events and on-demand availability of original international TUF shows. The report cites the company’s “rapid overseas expansion” as the driving force behind this yet to be named network. No price point has been advertised despite the network going live with the UFC Fight Night event January 4th in Singapore.
Payout Perspective:
As we noted the other day, the network will cater to dedicated UFC fans in North America and international markets. The overseas events will be featured in prime time in its respective markets and thus the network will be able to show them live without dealing with concerns of FS1/2 network conflicts. The pricing model will be interesting to see at what price point the UFC will ask its fans to pay for these events. We will see if the UFC will “build out” this network to include more UFC content or if it will focus on just international events with added “Easter egg” type features.
Wouldn’t Fox Sports want to broadcast some of these overseas shows, for example the London one, which is looking pretty decent?