or


[08/18/11 - 10:00 AM]
FOX Sports Media Group Reaches Multi-Year, Multi-Media Rights Agreement With Ultimate Fighting Championship
Said pact includes Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter," which will move to FX in the spring of 2012.

[via press release from UFC]

UFC & FOX PACK PERFECT PUNCH

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP REACHES MULTI-YEAR, MULTI-MEDIA RIGHTS AGREEMENT WITH ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

FOX to Broadcast Four Fights Annually Beginning November 2011

The Ultimate Fighter, Featuring a New Format, Moves to FX

Today, Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) (UFC), the world's leading mixed martial arts organization and No. 1 Pay-Per-View event provider in the world, finds its perfect media match in FOX, the No. 1 television network in the country. FOX Sports Media Group, the umbrella entity representing FOX Networks Group's wide array of sports platforms, has reached a multi-year, multi-media rights agreement with Zuffa, LLC, owner of the UFC brand.

The landmark agreement, which puts UFC on par with many of the country's professional sports organizations, delivers four live events in prime time or late night each year to the FOX broadcast network, home to the country's biggest sports events, including the Super Bowl, World Series and Daytona 500. The first live event airs Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. Additional programming on multiple FOX networks launches January 2012 and includes live fights, pre and post shows, countdown shows, UFC Unleashed, UFC Primetime, the UFC Knockout series, Best of Pride, weigh-in specials, and much more original content from extensive Zuffa archives. The agreement also provides for developing robust mobile and authenticated online offerings to exploit a vast array of digital platform rights.

In spring 2012, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, UFC's signature weekly reality show moves to FX, FOX's general entertainment cable network now in more than 99 million homes. With the move to FX, the show will feature a newly-designed format. FX is also set to televise another four-to six-live UFC events annually, with a mixture of additional events and programs heading to FSMG cable networks including FUEL TV.

"We're excited to be part of the FOX family," says Dana White, UFC President. "The UFC is finally where it belongs on the number one network in the country and aligned with the most prestigious sports properties in the world. I've always said that the UFC will be the biggest sport in the world and with this relationship it will become a reality."

"My brother Frank, Dana and I always believed that our passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts would help us to build the UFC into a successful global brand and ultimately make it one of the premier sports properties in the world," said Lorenzo Fertitta, Chairman and CEO of the UFC. "The partnership with FOX is a major step in making this a reality and also builds on the great relationship that we already have established with FOX in Latin America, Australia and Europe."

"Mixed martial arts is not only the fastest growing sport in the world, but also the world's most exciting form of man-to-man competition, and the UFC is the world's premier MMA organization," said FSMG President & Co-COO Eric Shanks. "Since FOX Sports is America's No. 1 sports network and FOX is America's No. 1 network for young adults, the UFC on FOX is a perfect match."

"UFC's growth over the past decade is nothing short of phenomenal and it has become one of the marquee sports in this country," said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. "There is a reason for its rising popularity. It features some of the greatest athletes in the world, and we believe it will be a terrific addition to our schedule and look forward to our relationship."

Founded in 1993, UFC has been on a meteoric rise since 2001 when it was acquired by Zuffa, LLC, owned by Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III and Dana White. UFC'S first brush with FOX Sports goes back to June 2002, when Fox Sports Net carried UFC's first non-pay-per-view event on basic cable television, and delivered what was then its largest audience to date. Through cooperation with state athletic commissions, consistent rules were established and refined for competition through officiating, judging, the addition of weight divisions, length of rounds and better equipment. Combined with an unyielding devotion to fighter safety, the UFC has vaulted to mainstream status in the minds of US sports fans attracting major sponsors such as Bud Light, Dodge and Harley Davidson.

UFC has displayed tremendous growth in digital and social media consumption. Unique visitors to UFC.com tripled between 2006 and 2010 (2.1 million to 6.3 million), and UFC established local web sites in 10 countries and Latin America. Using a unique blend of incentives, promotions and original content, including live bouts, UFC has seen its number of Facebook friends increase from 800,000 in 2009 to 6.1 million at present, outpacing the NFL, MLB and the NHL. UFC currently ranks second to the NBA in social media followers among the major sports organizations. Additionally, UFC President Dana White regularly interacts with over 1.5 million fans that follow him on Twitter.

Mixed martial arts skews much younger than more established US sports, which ranged from age 43 for Super Bowl XLIV to 61 for horse racing's Triple Crown in 2010. Thus far, the median age for UFC on Spike in 2011 is 36 and 56% of UFC fans fall into the adult 18-34 demographic. Live UFC programming performs extremely well in the advertiser attractive, hard-to-reach male 18-34 demographic, with live event programing averaging a 1.53 rating, making it a top-20 cable show this year.





  [august 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· ULTIMATE FIGHTER, THE (ESPN)





[11/12/24 - 12:31 PM]
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" Adds Additional Cast for Season 2
Chin Han, Hoa Xuande, Justin Chien, Amanda Zhou, Crystal Yu, Kelemete Misipeka, Lourdes Faberes and Rekha Sharma have joined the cast of the upcoming second season, which is currently in production in partnership with Nickelodeon.

[11/12/24 - 12:06 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of Nov. 4: "Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson" Enters the Ring; "Meet Me Next Christmas" Unwraps #1
Season 2, Act I of "Arcane," the animated series based on the popular multiplayer online battle arena game League of Legends, also had a strong debut, taking second place with 6.3M views.

[11/12/24 - 12:01 PM]
Video: "Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae" - Official Trailer - Hulu
This true crime docuseries examines the murder of Annie Mae Aquash - a Mi'kmaq woman from Nova Scotia, Canada, a mother of two daughters, a teacher, and a revolutionary who fought for Indigenous rights in the 1970s and whose death went unsolved for almost 30 years.

[11/12/24 - 11:29 AM]
Video: Prime Video Releases Trailer and Key Art for "Jeff Dunham's Scrooged-Up Holiday Special"
The one-hour special will premiere on November 19 on Prime Video.

[11/12/24 - 11:01 AM]
Video: "Nutcrackers" - Official Trailer - Hulu
It's beginning to look a lot like ch-aos. Ben Stiller stars in "Nutcrackers," premiering November 29 on Hulu.

[11/12/24 - 11:00 AM]
New Daytime Drama Series "Beyond the Gates" to Premiere Monday, Feb. 24, 2025 on CBS
The series is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., and in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States.

[11/12/24 - 10:34 AM]
"Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints" to Debut This Sunday, November 17th on FOX Nation
Premiering in two parts, the first four episodes will roll out weekly, beginning on Sunday, with the final four to run in April-May 2025, spanning the Holy season.

[11/12/24 - 10:14 AM]
Donnie Wahlberg Returns with a New Season of ID's "Very Scary People" Beginning Sunday, December 15 at 9 PM ET/PT
Hosted and executive produced by Wahlberg, eight new episodes reveal extraordinary insight into the twisted crimes committed by some of America's most heinous individuals.

[11/12/24 - 10:00 AM]
HBO Original Comedy Special "James Acaster: Hecklers Welcome" Debuts November 23
James Acaster explores his love/hate relationship with standup by relinquishing control of his set and accepting a healthy dose of audience interference - aka heckling.

[11/12/24 - 09:00 AM]
New Year, New Season! Prime Video Announces Premiere Date for "Harlem" Season Three
After a shocking Season Two finale cliffhanger that left audiences on the edge of their seats, the news is finally out that Harlem will return for Season Three at the top of next year on January 23, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

[11/12/24 - 08:31 AM]
Video: "Mary" - Official Trailer - Netflix
In this coming-of-age religious epic, Mary is shunned following a miraculous conception and forced into hiding. When King Herod ignites a murderous pursuit for her newborn baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph flee to save his life.

[11/12/24 - 08:04 AM]
Video: Peacock Debuts Trailer & Photos for Upcoming Original Film "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy"
Two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger returns to the role that established a romantic-comedy heroine for the ages, a woman whose inimitable approach to life and love redefined an entire film genre.

[11/12/24 - 08:02 AM]
HBO Original Documentary "Surveilled" Debuts November 20
The film tracks Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ronan Farrow as he investigates the growing business of commercial spyware, following the story from New York City to Tel Aviv, Israel, a center of espionage cybertechnology.

[11/12/24 - 07:03 AM]
Video: "Human Vs. Hamster" - Official Trailer - Max
Never underestimate the competition.

[11/12/24 - 07:00 AM]
Video: New Clip from "An Almost Christmas Story," Directed by David Lowery and Produced by Alfonso Cuaron
Directed by David Lowery and produced by five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón, this animated short is the third and final installment in Cuarón's holiday shorts collection for Disney+.