UnderGround Forum >> ESPN UK Possibly leaving UK market

JustPeed - Damn it. I'm moving to the UK in 3 months and I just had it figured out of what channels I need for ufc. When will these changes happen?

UGCTT_snsheehan - Worst case scenario is UFC on primetime and we have to pay for PPV and nobody will buy it or even know its on.


If ESPN stay its great - we are doing just fine now as it is, they give us all the main fights and other bits also.

Best case scenario imo is if Sky get it and dont put any cards on box office. We would get all the cards, they have the platform to air all prelims, ufc tonight, fight replays, primetime etc. Sky Sports news covering UFC would be MASSIVE for MMA as it would draw lots of people in and they will market it like hell.

Negatives of going to sky are they alot of mma fans arnt big fans of other sports so dont want to fork out the money for sky sports. Im afraid is gonna have to be tough on them because the vast majority of the target market will be sports fans in general - MMA die hards are a very small minority at the moment

It would be a big mistake to put UFC on sky nox office. I am a massive fan, wacth every card from the first facebook prelim - watch all the interviews etc, but I can say for one thing I wont be paying €21 (im in ireland) to watch a UFC PPV at 3am.

I would tolerate if UFC brought 3-4 numbered shows a year to europe and charge us PPV for those at a normal time and give them for free to the Americans. That seems fair

JustPeed -  Damn it. I'm moving to the UK in 3 months and I just had it figured out of what channels I need for ufc. When will these changes happen?

GARRYD -

Madmuzzy - Sky arent going to do PPV like UFC want, Sky has been stung by 2 big boxing PPV (Haye/Klitchko and Haye/Harrison)and i imagine the way they are looking at it is if David Haye a big draw in the UK cant get good numbers then UFC is not worth the effort from them. Their may be light at the end of the tunnel because Sky recently announced they will be doing Froch/Kessler on PPV so maybe they are looking to get back in the market.

Your kidding right ?
David Hayes fight with Wlad did massive numbers ppv wise , it was just the disappointing performance that made them drop ppv .
Sky have just set up Froch v Kessler 2 on box office ppv so their interest is back for big events like that but UFC ? No chance, it's just not big enough in the uk !

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life -

Terry Etim for dinner - Wouldn't be surprised, after they lose the premier league rights next season they don't have much content they can sell to subscribers.

They already have lost that. BT Vision out bided them.

ESPN are falling apart. They have also come out and said they are thinking of dropping the Scottish Premier League due to poor numbers.

Wizgub -

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life -

Terry Etim for dinner - Wouldn't be surprised, after they lose the premier league rights next season they don't have much content they can sell to subscribers.

They already have lost that. BT Vision out bided them.

ESPN are falling apart. They have also come out and said they are thinking of dropping the Scottish Premier League due to poor numbers.

Thats what happens without rangers

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life -

Wizgub -

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life -

Terry Etim for dinner - Wouldn't be surprised, after they lose the premier league rights next season they don't have much content they can sell to subscribers.

They already have lost that. BT Vision out bided them.

ESPN are falling apart. They have also come out and said they are thinking of dropping the Scottish Premier League due to poor numbers.

Thats what happens without rangers

True. Nobody is interested in watching a one horse race.

ESPN are paying the Scottish League millions every year and they are getting nothing in return for it.

john joe - one possible advantage of sky would be that if shows became profitable by way of PPV, they would start bringing over the bigger names again

Channel 5 is kicking itself because it sold its saturday nights to some shitty casino company for two or three years, so they cant air live UFC content

on its sister channel 5* they have BAMMA so i dont know, maybe some movement there down the line but depends on $. Right now the smart money is on Sky coz of the FOX deal and Gary Cook, although wouldnt rule out FX UK (or whatever its called) either

john joe - Scottish Premier league is just the biggest waste of time

Celtic and Rangers should join the English Premier and have done with it

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life - 

john joe - one possible advantage of sky would be that if shows became profitable by way of PPV, they would start bringing over the bigger names again

Channel 5 is kicking itself because it sold its saturday nights to some shitty casino company for two or three years, so they cant air live UFC content

on its sister channel 5* they have BAMMA so i dont know, maybe some movement there down the line but depends on $. Right now the smart money is on Sky coz of the FOX deal and Gary Cook, although wouldnt rule out FX UK (or whatever its called) either

If Sky go for the UFC it will be at least a couple of years before they go PPV.

Sky have been burned to often with PPV. The Amir Khan deal crumbled on them after Prescott knocked him out. There were huge issues with Haye vs Harrisson and also issues with Haye vs Klitchko. Sky have been building Froch up for a couple of years and it's only now they are prepared to test the PPV market again.

I'm going into work on Monday and am gonna start asking questions but as I said earlier, I'm just a tech dude. Can you not start asking the powers at be if they are interested in the UFC? You're part of a highly respected UK magazine.

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life - 

john joe - one possible advantage of sky would be that if shows became profitable by way of PPV, they would start bringing over the bigger names again

Channel 5 is kicking itself because it sold its saturday nights to some shitty casino company for two or three years, so they cant air live UFC content

on its sister channel 5* they have BAMMA so i dont know, maybe some movement there down the line but depends on $. Right now the smart money is on Sky coz of the FOX deal and Gary Cook, although wouldnt rule out FX UK (or whatever its called) either

If Sky go for the UFC it will be at least a couple of years before they go PPV.

Sky have been burned to often with PPV. The Amir Khan deal crumbled on them after Prescott knocked him out. There were huge issues with Haye vs Harrisson and also issues with Haye vs Klitchko. Sky have been building Froch up for a couple of years and it's only now they are prepared to test the PPV market again.

I'm going into work on Monday and am gonna start asking questions but as I said earlier, I'm just a tech dude. Can you not start asking the powers at be if they are interested in the UFC? You're part of a highly respected UK magazine.

I'm in late on this one, but I think it would be really good for UK MMA if Sky take it on board.  My perception is that Sky don't take sports unless they plan to back them properly.  They'll give the events the coverage they need/deserve and market them in a way that should be of benefit to other UK organisations too.  I think Sky would introduce the sport to new eyes rather than it being hidden away on ESPN, which all in all is a shit channel that I only pay for because of the UFC (I guess thats the opposite of some of the comments I've read, cause it actually costs me more due to the fact it's on ESPN, not less).  I really dont think that the PPV model works in Europe full stop so I just can't see that happening thankfully.

Bisping=Gatekeeper4Life -  Lol.

We have internal chatter (similar to twitter but for Sky personnel only). I know there are loads of UFC fans that work for Sky. I'll try and get an internal buzz going. Maybe someone higher up the food chain may take notice and reply.