MMA Junkie reports on the price point for the Bellator PPV on May 17th. Prices range from $30 to $45 and were entirely dependent on the distributors for the final pricing according to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney.
As an example, DirecTV has it $44.95 for HD and $10 less, $34.95 for SD. Jason Floyd of The MMA Report indicated a much lower price point for Verizon customers. Whatever the price point, its lower than the UFC’s offering of $54.95 HD and $44.95 SD.
Rebney explained to MMA Junkie:
“So some will be $30, some are going to be $35, and some will be $39.99. It’s all dependent on what the cable operators want to do. We felt like they knew their individual markets better than we did. So rather than dictating to them, we said, ‘Price it as you see fit and we’ll roll with it.’”
Payout Perspective:
This approach seems to ensure that the distributors carry Bellator’s PPV which is extremely important considering 1) It’s the first one and 2) It had to adjust its November PPV to a SpikeTV event due to Tito Ortiz’s injury. The news that the price point was based on the distributors deflects criticism from Bellator on the price. Is $45 too much for this card? Do you think that if Bellator set a lower price it would help the buys?
$45 is way too much. $30 – $35 and in HD would be just about right. To hell with SD.
I’m with Logical. I’ll buy the PPV, but mainly to support Bellator.
bellator suck
With really only one fight I’m interested in I will pass on this PPV. The UFC PPV is not much better and may skip it as well but I would be more inclined to order it if I had to choose.
Plus Bjorn Rebney bothers me I would like to support the fighters but he turns me off.