Where will UFC 101 be shown?

bret69

UFC 101 takes place Saturday week but what channel will it be shown?

Will it be the same as 100?

Maldini2706

I'll be surprised if that isn't one of the big announcements to be made on Friday

hmmmmmm

According to the Sun website, it's going to be on Espn

bret69

Is that a paid package?

Mossy Monk

bret69 wrote: »

Is that a paid package?

Yes

JoeyJJ

Are NTL going to carry ESPN?

Mossy Monk

Nothing has been announced to say they will.

soretoe

BRET69 are you not going to be ringside for this one no ? ah ya must have something on that weekend... : )

Hopefully Bravo will sort something out, Otherwise PPV.

Mossy Monk

ESPN are expected to be announced as the new home for UFC on Friday.

calex71

ufc top 100 earlier and ufc 100 on setanta now

maybe just using content they have rights to to fill a slow week?

bret69

soretoe wrote: »

BRET69 are you not going to be ringside for this one no ? ah ya must have something on that weekend... : )

Ha ha...no 100 was enough to do me...till 105 at least!

Plus it's more fun watcing it with you lads!

Devastator

Mossy Monk wrote: »

ESPN are expected to be announced as the new home for UFC on Friday.

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=2826&offset=0

UFC UK president Marshall Zelaznik says an announcement on the new television home of the UFC in Britain will be made later today.

“We are going to tell everyone about our new UK and Eire TV deal today,” he said on Thursday morning. “ We are pumped.”

The frontrunner for the UK television rights appears to be ESPN, which has recently commenced a British operation.

Other names in the mix include Sky Sports and Virgin One, but ESPN has been the subject of numerous recent reports linking it with the British UFC TV rights.
This article will be updated when an announcement is made later today.

In other possibly related news, ESPN's new channel will be available to virgin media customers. Announced yesterday, and ESPN's website has been updated to reflect this.

bret69

so if ESPN is the new channel, the only way to get it will be through Sky?

there's no way at all to get it through ntl?

Mossy Monk

UPC has not announced a carriage deal as of yet.

Karmafaerie

Mossy Monk wrote: »

UPC has not announced a carriage deal as of yet.

It all depends on Setanta Ireland.

PADRAIC.M

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=2826 looks like its out now, espn uk launches monday and is free for first month! So two ufc's for free, looks like they have a hd station too! Its station 417 on sky, time to cancel setanta me thinks.

Surly NTL will carry ESPN especially because they will be showing the premiership next season.


I'm looking forward to 101 so I hope NTL do carry it or Ill be pissed.

davmol

NTL have ESPN america so Id assume it wouldnt be a problem to get ESPN UK or whatever the channel will be called

Mossy Monk

Karmafaerie wrote: »

It all depends on Setanta Ireland.

What has ESPN going on UPC got to do with Setanta Ireland?

bret69

This is awful news, there is no way for me to see ufc live now, no matter how much money I'm willing to pay.

I was even willing to switch over to sky today but I can't cause I live in an apartment.

bret69

I just called ntl and they said they will be getting espn "soon" but she didn't have a date. She said "in about a months time"

That's better news...although I most likely won't be able to see 101 or 102 live

FunkyG

What a joke, way to lose your UK fans UFC, i just checked out ESPN web site and it will cost an extra £9 a month on top of what you already pay for on Sky.


I for one am realy peed off by this, have watched UFC for a few years now, had setanta, that went bust so i got sky sports on the off chance it might go there, now i find out i will have to pay more to keep watching, not happy.

Mossy Monk

FunkyG wrote: »

What a joke, way to lose your UK fans UFC, i just checked out ESPN web site and it will cost an extra £9 a month on top of what you already pay for on Sky.


I for one am realy peed off by this, have watched UFC for a few years now, had setanta, that went bust so i got sky sports on the off chance it might go there, now i find out i will have to pay more to keep watching, not happy.

In the UK ESPN will be of a similar cost to what Setanta was so anyone over there wanting to watch UFC will pay in or around the same price. You can always cancel your Sky Sports subscription if UFC was the reason you got it.

chopperbyrne

FunkyG wrote: »

What a joke, way to lose your UK fans UFC, i just checked out ESPN web site and it will cost an extra £9 a month on top of what you already pay for on Sky.


I for one am realy peed off by this, have watched UFC for a few years now, had setanta, that went bust so i got sky sports on the off chance it might go there, now i find out i will have to pay more to keep watching, not happy.

Nobody to blame but yourself so.

£9 a month is cheaper than the old Setanta package too.

bret69

Apparently ESPN is launching on Monday and will be free for a month.

I wonder does that mean free to everyone or just the people with sky...

davmol

ESPN won the right to screen some premiership soccer matches too.
Over in the states ESPN has a great standard of programming like a chat show for MMA,good boxing coverage and great documentaries leading up to a fight and guest appearances from athletes,fighters etc.Im hoping that will transfer to ESPN UK so im willing to pay the extra few quid to see what its like.

Only thing is with the setanta package you got Setanta 1,2,set ireland,and a celtic channel(i think) amonst other channels.

cmb.

from fightersonly:


ESPN has officially announced that it will broadcast UFC programming in the UK, starting with UFC 101.

The ESPN UK channel will launch on Monday August 3rd on Sky Channel 417 and in High Definition on Sky Channel 443.

UFC UK Division President Marshall Zelaznik said: “We are ecstatic to announce that ESPN is the new home of the UFC in the UK and Ireland. ESPN is one of the most trusted and respected brands in all of sports broadcasting, and we are thrilled to be working with them as they launch their new channel in the UK and Ireland.

“Over the last three years, the UFC has become as big a part of the sporting landscape in the British Isles as football and rugby, and for the worldwide leader in sports broadcasting came to us and we were able to reach an agreement so quickly is another testament that the UFC is an important part of the British sporting calendar.”

“ESPN’s aim is to serve UK and Ireland sports fans by bringing the very best of both domestic and international live sport to their living rooms. We are delighted to add UFC… to our growing portfolio of live sport,” said Jeroen Oerlemans, ESPN’s Vice President, TV Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa.

ESPN launches August 3 on both the Sky and Virgin platforms in the UK and Ireland and, for the first month is FREE to all viewers, meaning everyone with Sky or Virgin can watch both UFC 101 and UFC 102 free of charge.

Sky Sports viewers can subscribe to ESPN for £9 per month, and viewers without Sky Sports can subscribe for £11. For more information contact your cable or satellite provider or visit www.sky.com/espn.

In addition to all live UFC events from around the world, ESPN will also screen UFC Unleashed every Thursday at 10pm, allowing fans to relive the greatest fights in UFC history.

UFC 101: Declaration takes place on Saturday 8th August and features the UFC Lightweight Title bout between BJ Penn and number one contender Kenny Florian as well as pound-for-pounder Anderson Silva stepping up to face light heavyweight Forrest Griffin.

On August 29th, legendary heavyweights Randy “The Natural” Couture and Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira meet in the main event of UFC 102. That event is followed by a UFC Fight Night on September 16th, headlined by Nate Diaz’s lightweight clash with Melvin Guillard.

These will be the first three UFC events broadcast by ESPN to UK viewers.
y:

FunkyG

Mossy Monk wrote: »

In the UK ESPN will be of a similar cost to what Setanta was so anyone over there wanting to watch UFC will pay in or around the same price. You can always cancel your Sky Sports subscription if UFC was the reason you got it.

UFC wasn't the only reason i got sky sports, with setanta going under i had no sports, needed something to watch and unfortunatly now stuck with Sky Sports for a couple months contractually.

I don't know why there isn't a channel just for MMA,boxing and other fight dissaplins, enough people watch it and i'd be happy to pay if there was one.

Karmafaerie

Setanta matters as UPC are trying to buy it.
Or the company that owns UPC are.

Don't forget Setanta Ireland still have the rights to show certain Premiership matches in Ireland.
Theoretically, Setanta could have gotten the Irish rights to the UFC, and ESPN will only have rights to show it in England.

Look at UFC 100 for instance.


If Setanta Ireland is bought by Liberty Global (The guys wo own UPC as well as the Discovery Channel and a few others) there's a good chance that Setanta Sports could be filled with Exclusive Irish rights for a lot of sporting events.

But as above, it seems now that ESPN have the Irish rights now too.

deise48

ufc 100 was shown on the racing channel so thats worth keeping a eye on