{"id":63535,"date":"2025-08-12T08:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63535\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T08:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:35:12","slug":"how-paramount-won-the-ufc-rights-in-a-7-7-billion-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63535\/","title":{"rendered":"How Paramount Won the UFC Rights in a $7.7 Billion Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a massive shift away from from the MMA giant\u2019s model with ESPN.
\n Photo: Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC\n <\/p>\n

Back in 2008, CBS struck a small-but-historic deal to bring a handful of MMA fights<\/a> to primetime \u2014 the first time the then-upstart sport, still struggling for respect in some circles, had broken through the big-four broadcast-network barrier. Two decades later, the Eye network\u2019s early investment is poised to pay off thanks to a just-inked, nearly $8 billion deal between TKO Sports and Paramount, the parent companies of MMA giant UFC and CBS.<\/p>\n

The seven-year agreement announced August 11 will give the Skydance-owned Paramount exclusive access to all UFC events in the United States starting early next year, including 13 annual, numbered \u201cmarquee\u201d events plus 30 so-called Fight Night bouts. All of the nearly four dozen bouts will stream live on Paramount+ at no additional charge. Per TKO execs, the linear Eye network was critical to making the pact work. \u201cIt was important for us to have CBS play a big component in this,\u201d TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro told CNBC<\/a> Monday. He added the broadcaster will \u201csimulcast many of the fights and likely all of the numbered events,\u201d and implied airing the bouts on CBS would also elevate the UFC brand. \u201cWe\u2019re going old school here \u2014 Jimmy the Greek<\/a>, Brent Musburger, CBS Sports, all that great history. We like that,\u201d he said, perhaps temporarily forgetting why Mr. Greek (real name Jimmy Snyder) left CBS<\/a>. Ari Emanuel, TKO\u2019s CEO, also played up the Eye\u2019s value: \u201cWe wanted the reach of CBS and the Tiffany aspect of CBS,\u201d he told CNBC.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a massive shift from the UFC\u2019s TV model with its current partner, Disney\u2019s ESPN<\/a>, which has been in place since 2019. While a few smaller UFC-branded events air on ABC (often during the daytime hours), the vast majority of content is paywalled on bundled cable network ESPN or, in most cases, subscription streamer ESPN+. And while ESPN+ streams the Fight Night events as part of a standard subscription, UFC diehards who want to see those 13 big numbered events currently need to plunk down a whopping $80 to watch each telecast, in addition to whatever they pay for ESPN+ (or the Disney bundle). While that certainly brings in revenue for Disney and UFC, it also limits how many eyeballs will be on each event to those who have the coin to pay for it. That changes with the new deal. \u201cIf you take \u2026 Paramount+ with ads, it\u2019s $8. It\u2019s $8 \u2014 and you get all of the UFC included,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

Now, if Shapiro\u2019s prediction that \u201clikely all of the numbered events\u201d will end up on CBS, too, that could bring several million more mostly casual MMA fans into the ring for UFC. The pay-per-view scheme currently used by ESPN for UFC is \u201cjust an antiquated model,\u201d Shapiro argued. \u201cIt\u2019s a wall. It\u2019s a barrier.\u201d Being on CBS and the much more affordable (for now) Paramount+ will help \u201cour fans to get our product,\u201d he said. It\u2019s the same logic cited when the NBA announced its decision to bring its biggest package of games to NBCUniversal: In addition to putting games on Peacock, the company will also bring basketball to primetime two nights a week for several months each year, expanding its reach in a way cable-based Turner Sports never could. This is a big swing from just a few years ago, when legacy companies seemed to be in a race to see who could abandon their broadcast properties as quickly as possible. Indeed, the 2018 press release<\/a> for Disney\u2019s UFC deal didn\u2019t even mention ABC.<\/p>\n

None of this is to underplay the value of this agreement to Paramount\u2019s streaming business. While P+ is actually doing pretty well already with 77 million global subscribers and has a strong sports component already \u2014 from CBS\u2019s telecasts of the NFL to the Masters to UEFA Champions League soccer \u2014 being the exclusive streaming home of UFC\u2019s biggest events will almost surely bring in new subscribers and, more importantly, cut down on churn since UFC events take place year-round. Disney saw UFC\u2019s impact on ESPN+ almost immediately, adding over 500,000 new subs<\/a> the weekend Fight Night debuted on the platform (though, it\u2019s worth noting, the service was barely a year old at the time and had more room to grow than P+ does in the U.S. right now). Making the numbered fights part of the core P+ package should also up the platform\u2019s appeal and add to consumer perception of its value. By contrast, under its old ownership, Paramount and P+ de-invested in MMA, selling the company\u2019s ownership<\/a> stake in UFC rival Bellator and shutting down its Showtime Sports division<\/a> two years ago.<\/p>\n

While Shapiro talked up the great \u201cvalue\u201d for consumers in this new agreement, there\u2019s a good chance all P+ subscribers \u2014 including the millions who don\u2019t care about sports \u2014 will end up subsidizing the decision to put a much less expensive paywall around UFC\u2019s most premium content. That\u2019s what has happened over at Peacock, where parent company NBCUniversal\u2019s decision to spend billions on the NBA is a key reason that streamer just hiked prices by $3 per month<\/a>. It\u2019s too soon to say how much P+ will increase its monthly fee once the UFC lands, but some sort of hike seems all but guaranteed. And as with the NBA on Peacock and NBC, it\u2019s also possible Skydance-owned Paramount will be forced to cut spending in other areas in order to fund this new investment in sports. Realigning financial priorities was a key reason CBS gave for its decision to cancel The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/a>; spending billions on UFC is one such move.<\/p>\n

And yet, CBS also stands to benefit from the UFC deal \u2014 for many of the same reasons former CBS programming chief Kelly Kahl cited when he pioneered the Eye\u2019s first move into MMA 17 years ago with the much-smaller ProElite. While CBS has no problem, even today, attracting big audiences \u2014 it\u2019s been the No. 1 TV platform for close to 20 years now \u2014 reaching younger viewers, especially men, has never been more challenging for linear networks. UFC fights on CBS won\u2019t magically bring young dudes back to broadcast TV in droves, but it will almost surely give a dramatic lift to the Eye\u2019s Nielsen numbers in key demos and, just as importantly, expose them to promos for the Eye\u2019s many male-skewing entertainment shows like Tracker and Fire Country. We\u2019ll also likely see a slew of branding crossovers between CBS and UFC talent, or possibly even UFC-branded content on the network (you know Jeff Probst is already dreaming up potential collabs). CBS isn\u2019t going to make itself over into the UFC Channel; its brand, and audience base, is much broader than that. But it\u2019s not hard to see this agreement giving the Eye a major boost in a way Disney\u2019s pact with UFC never did for ABC.<\/p>\n

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