Setanta in turmoil

dunkamania

http://mmapayout.com/2009/03/ufc-uk-tv-partner-setanta-sports-in-turmoil/

This makes me sad...

The success of MMA is in large part tied to having strong television partners to provide a constant stream of programming to foster an audience. Spike was key to the break out success of the UFC in the middle of the decade. The UFC had hoped to replicate such a profitable partnership with Setanta Sports in the UK to help build the sport there, but recent news indicates that Setanta may be sailing into choppy financial waters. The Irish Times details the recent missed payments on a key deal that may indicate some trouble within the UK sports network:

DUBLIN-BASED pay TV broadcaster Setanta Sports is believed to have missed a £10 million installment payment to the Football Association in England, potentially jeopardising its rights to live FA Cup and England internationals and raising concerns about its future viability.

Pauk Kelso of The Telegraph details what is at hand with Setanta and how its partners may react.

Ifight365.com, which is headquartered in the UK, has some keen insight into how this may affect the UFC :

Speculation is rife that the satellite broadcaster could collapse in a situation that shows signs of mirroring the failure of ITV Digital several years ago.

And one scenario currently being looked at is cutting back on the number of channels currently offered to subscribed in a move that could potentially cause the UFC problems.

And while those deals may be the ones that stand out in the company accounts, the likes of the UFC and an exclusive 3-year deal with Frank Warren’s Sports Network to give a new home to boxers such as Joe Calzaghe and Enzo Maccarinelli could also be hit by the cash-strapped company.

One option is for the company as part of a cutback would be to focus on a smaller number of channels. Currently, Setanta offers customers up to twelve subscription channels. Restructuring and cost-cutting could reduce that number down to as few as two channels, with the focus being on offering as much top quality football as possible.

Obviously if that is the route Setanta choose to go down, other sports will likely be affected to some degree and in some cases, dropped completely.

rovert

Hardly unexpected but I really enjoy the current setup in regards to UFC.

Charlie3dan

What's likely to happen if Setanta get rid of UFC events?
Another channel will get them or will they all be PPV?

Bring back UFC on Bravo!!!

rovert

Charlie3dan wrote: »

What's likely to happen if Setanta get rid of UFC events?
Another channel will get them or will they all be PPV?

They wont be on PPV in the UK anytime soon over here. I would nearly say never.

Charlie3dan wrote: »

Bring back UFC on Bravo!!!

Bravo has other MMA programming that has done equal ratings to what UFC
did. UFC will probably balk at sharing a channel with Affliction.

Does Sky still cover MMA?

Karmafaerie

Setanta won't go under.
Not a hope.

They are in nowhere near as dire staits as this article would imply, and you'll see that there is no actual proof mentioned, just rumours.

Setanta is believed.....

Speculation is rife......


And even if Seanta were in trouble, they also have a succesfull business operating in North America.
Not to mention the fact that ESPN have been trying to buy them out for about 2 years now.


Setanta will be around to see out their deal with the UFC.

Mossy Monk

Setanta is not just the UK. They also have channels in Australia, Canada, USA and Africa.

If however they do stop showing UFC then I will download them

Professey Chin

Charlie3dan wrote: »

What's likely to happen if Setanta get rid of UFC events?
Another channel will get them or will they all be PPV?

Bring back UFC on Bravo!!!

Fcuk no!!!I like watching fights live and watching them without ads for dog the bounty hunter between fights,in between rounds,after ring walks,before decisions

chopperbyrne

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

Fcuk no!!!I like watching fights live and watching them without ads for dog the bounty hunter between fights,in between rounds,after ring walks,before decisions

Also with all the fights being shown.

The last Affliction event, Bravo didn't even show the first fight that went out live on the PPV.

dunkamania

If its up to Bravo and its a choice between the UFC and Affliction, its not much of a choice really. More than likely go with the organisation that will definitely show more than one show before it folds

Fozzy

dunkamania wrote: »

If its up to Bravo and its a choice between the UFC and Affliction, its not much of a choice really. More than likely go with the organisation that will definitely show more than one show before it folds

But if other stations are interested then it will drive the UFC's price up, in which case Bravo might prefer to show other MMA

Does the Extreme Sports channel have the rights to new Strikeforce shows or just old ones? Because that could be another avenue for Bravo

calex71

Fozzy wrote: »

But if other stations are interested then it will drive the UFC's price up, in which case Bravo might prefer to show other MMA

Does the Extreme Sports channel have the rights to new Strikeforce shows or just old ones? Because that could be another avenue for Bravo

Wish extreme sports where up there with the level of HDnet Fights in the US then maybe we could see other top promotions over here.

As it is now we have to look to other less legitimate sources for the likes of wec even , which setanta could have got surely as its owned by ufc???

hmmmmm reminds me dream 7 is on this weekend in japan

would hate to see ufc go ppv , how many here would stump up €30 every 2 weeks.

Fozzy

calex71 wrote: »

hmmmmm reminds me dream 7 is on this weekend in japan

The tv situation for them is kinda bad at the moment. They're only airing an hour and a half of what could be a five or six hour show. And it's airing at half 1 at night on over a day delay

That's due to low audiences for their shows, and they may get dropped if that continues. Just this week a major channel in Japan stopped airing pro wrestling after 55 years

rovert

calex71 wrote: »

would hate to see ufc go ppv , how many here would stump up €30 every 2 weeks.

Im quite sure UFC reallise the Pay Per View isnt truely a part of our culture.

liger

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Setanta won't go under.
Not a hope.

They are in nowhere near as dire staits as this article would imply, and you'll see that there is no actual proof mentioned, just rumours.

Setanta is believed.....

Speculation is rife......

Setanta's bread and butter is the Premiership and last week sky outbid them for all available match packages that the english fa offer. But under the uk (maybe EU) competition law sky can no longer have a monopoly on all games. This meant setanta were awarded the lowest rights deal with a handful of games. This mean that sky will now show all the BIG games such man utd vs chelsea etc.

Setanta will see a major drop in their subscriptions because of this. And need a major overhaul to survive. I personally can't see them dropping the UFC as the live events dont clash with anything else and the replays can be used to fill their schedule. But when the time comes to renew the deal with the UFC you will see SKY trying to get the rights. I'm sure they'll show events on the subscription for the first year until interest increases and then move them to PPV.

rovert

liger wrote: »

But when the time comes to renew the deal with the UFC you will see SKY trying to get the rights.

If that happens WWE will block the deal. UFC got kicked off Sky by WWE and later got blocked by WWE again hence why UFC signed with Bravo in first place. This all was at a time were UFC wasn’t viewed as a threat to WWE. So the chances of it happening now would be even less.

Machismo Fan

Setanta recently lost one of their Premier League packages to Sky aswell so that could lead to less subscribers.

liger

I think at this stage the WWE is losing viewers worldwide at a very high rate and on sky viewing figures are down to an all time low.

I company like sky will be very aware of this and the rising popularity of the UFC. so when the time comes to bid for UFC rights i dont think Sky will pay much attention to the WWE. I mean where else are the WWE going to go? When they were on C4 it was a disaster.

rovert

liger wrote: »

I think at this stage the WWE is losing viewers worldwide at a very high rate and on sky viewing figures are down to an all time low.

I didn’t know that I’m not saying you are wrong i just don’t pay attention to viewing figures outside of the US. As the UK viewership on a week on week basis has always fluctuated wildly. In WWE's defence it is barely on Sky 1 anymore, all their shows are on the premium channels and there is a million replays of everything so historically comparisons aren’t like for like.

liger wrote: »

I company like sky will be very aware of this and the rising popularity of the UFC. so when the time comes to bid for UFC rights i dont think Sky will pay much attention to the WWE. I mean where else are the WWE going to go? When they were on C4 it was a disaster.

I dont think Sky or WWE parting ways anytime soon as it helped build the network and it is a 20+ year relationship.

calex71

Fozzy wrote: »

The tv situation for them is kinda bad at the moment. They're only airing an hour and a half of what could be a five or six hour show. And it's airing at half 1 at night on over a day delay

That's due to low audiences for their shows, and they may get dropped if that continues. Just this week a major channel in Japan stopped airing pro wrestling after 55 years

read all about that earlier, to be fair with japan events much as i love their BIG shows and entrances etc there probably is only 90 minutes of action in a 6 hour show.


As for ufc going ppv, i really think they would have to avoid at all costs over here short term if they want to continue to build a base. UFC and wwe are not the same and the reason for the slump in wwe viewers to me is simple they chose story over action and repeated the same stories over and over. as a once fan of wwe it annoys me to see the same fude end with a tripple threat over and over and over with the same 4 or 5 guys rotated ffs i mean come on the fans u have are tuning out because of it and any new ones u get will tune out for the same reason before long