Dish Network ditches UFC 186

MMA Junkie reports that satellite provider Dish Network will not be offering UFC 186 this Saturday and thus prohibiting its approximately 14 million subscribers from ordering the pay per view.

The UFC issued a statement regarding the situation.  The statement in part reads:

Due to contractual issues, DISH Network will not be offering UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi on Pay-Per-View this Saturday.  While all other providers in the U.S. have come to an agreement on renewal terms, DISH Network has elected not to renew its distribution agreement with UFC.

Via MMA Junkie:

The industry leader signed a multi-year deal with Dish that ended on Jan. 31, though an extension was inked for March’s UFC 185, according to a person familiar with the UFC’s agreement. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

A Dish Network rep confirmed the impasse with the UFC and that it would not offer the pay per view to its subscribers.  It did indicate that the two sides were in negotiations for further events.

Payout Perspective:

According to this Broadcasting & Cable article in which Dish inked a deal to carry the Weather Channel, Dish Network is a notoriously difficult negotiator.  Of course, the UFC probably is seeking a bigger percentage of the PPV revenue.  At this point, it has some leverage in a new deal since it had a big first quarter of 2015 with its PPVs and Dish has lost PPV revenue due to the WWE Network.  You may also argue that due to the bigger cut HBO/Showtime is taking from PPV revenues from distributors, Dish is not seeing returns via PPVs.   Thus, the UFC is seeking a better contract.  Of course, UFC 186 is one of the weakest cards (on paper) despite the return of Rampage Jackson to the card.  We will see if the two sides will be able to come to an agreement by UFC 187 which looks to be a big show.