UFC-DISH Network agree to new deal

The UFC announced that it has come to terms with the DISH Network to carry its PPV.  The new agreement ends the one PPV hiatus from the network carrier of UFC PPVs.

The 14 million DISH Network subscribers will get their chance to order UFC 187 this Saturday.

The UFC and DISH Network had come to an impasse in negotiations which precluded it from the network to carry UFC 186.  The network went on to announce that it would no longer carry any UFC PPVs.  The contract between the two ended at the end of January and was briefly extended up until UFC 186 when the sides could not come together on a new contract.

Terms of the deal were not made public although a statement by UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik indicated that it will deliver UFC content to DISH “for years to come.”

Payout Perspective:

This seems to be the standard procedure for DISH Network.  It’s a game of chicken to see who will blink first and sometimes that means that there will be an impasse where a network (or in this case UFC PPVs) will be off of DISH for some time.  While we do not have numbers as to how many DISH subscribers purchase UFC PPVs giving 14 million people (reported DISH subs) the opportunity to pay for UFC PPVs should help PPV buys and UFC revenue.  Thus, this is good news for both the UFC and DISH.