Warner Bros. Discovery has acquired television rights to the Bellator Championship Series mixed martial arts franchise, adding to its lineup of live sports content.

Max will stream Bellator’s first event under the new deal on March 22 from Belfast, one of eight Bellator Championship Series events taking place during the year, according to WBD. Each event will take place from various locations around the world and highlight the best fighters from each region.

In addition, other Bellator content – which formerly aired on Paramount-owned Showtime prior to the company’s sale last November of the franchise to the Professional Fighters League – will air on TruTv throughout the year. Max will also stream two new all-access docuseries, Fight Camp Confidential and Fight Week, that will debut March 21 in advance of the first live event, said WBD. 

The Bellator content adds to WBD-owned TNT Sports lineup of live sports programming, which includes Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, NCAA men's college basketball, and NASCAR events.

Also: Sports Executive of the Year: Game On, Says Luis Silberwasser, TNT Sports Chief

“We are thrilled to partner with Professional Fighters League to introduce a new live sport to the U.S. Warner Bros. Discovery content portfolio,” Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming chief financial & strategy officer Josh Walker said in a statement. “The addition of Bellator Champions Series offers our viewers an opportunity to experience highly anticipated mixed martial arts, nicely complementing our robust slate of can’t miss programming.” 

Former NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman is looking to tackle the TV business.

Merriman’s mixed martial arts outfit, Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, on Friday will debut a new data and analytics package designed to make the sport more interesting for viewers and more attractive to sponsors.

And in a couple of months, Merriman said he plans to launch Lights Out Sports, a free, ad-supported TV (FAST) streaming app with 20 or so channels.

“Just like I was a game changer on the field, I want to be a game changer in what I’m doing now,” Merriman told Broadcasting+Cable.

Merriman played for the San Diego Chargers from 2005 through 2010, then spent two seasons with the Buffalo Bills before retiring in 2012. After his football career ended, Merriman got into the TV business, working for the NFL, Fox Sports and ESPN. He started Lights Out Xtreme Fighting in 2019.

Merriman got in touch with DD Sports, the company that puts sensors in basketballs to create the realtime ShotTracker analytics used by coaches and broadcasters.

Together they developed a Tech glove with a ShotTracker sensor in the wrist that will measure the power and frequency of punches. A camera system will track where the fighters are in the ring.

The glove will get its first test Friday night (February 16), when a Lights Out card streams on the Fubo Sports network. Lights Out events have been on Fubo Sports, a free channel on numerous OTT platforms (Roku, Tubi, Plex, smart-TV sets) and available on the paid Fubo app, since 2021. 

“We’ve got some beta-testing to do,” Merriman said of the new glove tech. “We want to see how much information we can get the first time out.”

“MMA and combat sports, including Shawne Merriman’s Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, are a fan-favorite among our Fubo Sports audience," Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo Studios, told B+C. "We continue to program action-packed events like these that viewers tune in for.” 

Merriman is hoping to put some data on the screen for viewers. If that doesn’t work at first, the data will go to the fight announcers, who will share them with the audience.

Among the things the data will show are how fast and how hard punches are hitting and if fighters are getting tired and throwing punches with less steam. (The fighters don’t wear anything on their feet, so it’s harder to gauge kicks.)

The data will also let viewers figure out how good a chin a fighter has — or how well they can take a punch.

Merrriman expects the analytics to make fights more fun to watch, make fans and fighters smarter about the sport and help settle bets.

Speaking of betting, with sports betting legal in much of the country, the analytics could be valuable to gamblers and encourage wagering, which generates ratings and revenue.

Lights Out will use social media to measure how fans are reacting to the new statistics.

The data could also create opportunities for sponsors. For example, the hardest punch of the night could be sponsored by a headache remedy. Or showing how tired a fighter is could be presented by a mattress maker.

Lights Out serves as sort of a farm system for bigger MMA leagues and Merriman said he’d talk to outfits like UFC about licensing the technology.

“We have to get the data accurate before we go to them and say, ‘this works and this is how it can work.’ When we get this accurate enough, I think it'll be a game changer for everybody,” he said.

Merriman said having the kind of analytics available in sports today would have helped him in his playing days. “If I knew a left or right tackle was getting tired in the second quarter, that would go into my game plan,“ he said. ”I would 100% say we’ll kind of beat him up a bit in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, I’m going to turn it on. The more information you have the better.”

Merriman said that soon Fubo won’t be the only platform showing Lights Out Xtreme Fighting. “They’re good partners, but we’re about to have distribution all over the world,” he said.

Merriman is creating Lights Out Sports, a free, ad-supported televison (FAST) platform with 20 to 25 channels. 

In terms of distribution, Merriman said he had deals with some TV makers and phone companies.

“We believe that we can get a million plus people on the platform pretty quick,” he said.

Lights Out is working with audio giant iHeartRadio to help monetize the video content. iHeartRadio will have a channel on the platform and sponsors Friday’s fights on Fubo.

One of the features of Lights Out Sports will be special cameras that fans can control. “We want to make this as interactive as possible," Merriman said. “That camera can be sponsored by a partner. When you start to offer them something no one else has, it’s a little more appealing to them.”

Boxing Runs in the Family

Merriman grew up in Maryland and he had professional boxers in his family. Fox Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer saw Merriman in the gym one day and noticed his boxing skills. Glazer suggested learning MMA could make him a better football player.

Soon after, he was a in a gym with Glazer and legendary MMA champ Randy Couture. Couture showed Merriman how to use his hands and his leverage to move a bigger, stronger opponent.

These days Merriman on Fridays spar with his fighters. But at 40, he said, he’s too old to get into the ring for real, or behave like former WWE head Vince McMahon.

“I love it to stay in shape and for the discipline,“ he said. ”I like the regimen part of it. But time passes. I've I beaten myself up enough playing football.”

Merriman has been bankrolling Lights Out himself. He said that rather than pitch a concept, he prefers to get a business up and running before seeking investors. And once Lights Out Sports is up and running, he will be open to adding a strategic partner.

“There’s a lot of money out there, especially for something like this we’re building,” he said. “We want the right partner that’s going to drive us to the next level, right? I’m the first to admit I have weak spots because I haven’t done this before.”

It’s tough for some athletes to find their second act.

“Being known for being great in something else is important to me; more than money,” Merriman said. “All that stuff is going to come. But when you can do something that’s groundbreaking, that changes how people view an athlete making this transition to business — it’s not just Shawne is doing pretty well, but he’s rattled an entire industry.”

Merriman says he’s dedicated to Lights Out. “Three meals, an hour and 15 minutes in the gym, six hours of sleep and this. That’s my schedule,” he said. “Hopefully the money will follow like it did in sports.”

DAZN PPV will distribute YouTube star Jake Paul’s next foray into the boxing ring against former UFC and mixed martial arts champion Nate Diaz in an August 5 pay-per-view boxing event.

Paul, who most recently suffered a split decision loss to Tommy Fury this past February, will look to rebound against Diaz, who is making his boxing debut after a decorated combat sports career. 

“We are incredibly excited to have this mega fight on DAZN around the world,” DAZN North America CEO Joe Markowski said in a statement. “One of the biggest names in boxing meeting one of the biggest names in MMA makes for a truly unique matchup on a global scale.”

The event is the latest in a busy PPV boxing schedule that has already featured three PPV boxing events in the first quarter of 2023. Also, Showtime has an April 22 PPV bout scheduled between undefeated fighters Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. 

In addition, a much-anticipated bout between welterweight championship unification fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence is slated for June, according to published reports. 

Prime Video will soon add martial arts to its lineup of live sports events as the streaming service secured rights to 12 live One Championship events annually.

The deal provides Prime Video exclusive rights to One Championship events, which feature world class athletes representing more than 80 countries competing across MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, submission grappling and other disciplines, said the service. Prime Video’s official launch date of global sports property’s live events will be announced later in the year, said Prime Video.

One Championship content was last seen on U.S. television in 2021 when TNT aired four live events in April.

The deal adds to Prime Video’s live sports offerings, which include select New York Yankees games, and launching later this fall, exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football games.

“We are proud to add exclusive coverage of One Championship events to our suite of marquee live sports offerings,” said Amazon Global Sports Video VP Marie Donoghue in a statement. “In addition to offering a full suite of martial arts disciplines, One Championship shares our mutual commitment to elevate female athletes, boasting five reigning female world champions.”

Added One Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong: “One Championship is thrilled to work with Prime Video, one of the largest premium sports content providers in the world, to bring our live events closer to fans in the United States and Canada. As the world’s largest martial arts organization, we believe our collaboration with Prime Video will allow us to reach a wider North American audience that is hungry for an authentic and differentiated product you simply can’t get with any other organization.” ■

Live sports event streamer FITE will add an exclusive Metallica concert to its pay-per-view offering of event producer Triller's Nov. 27 Triad Combat event, one of many perks the PPV event aggregator hopes to score from its new parent company.

The event from Triller -- which purchased FITE this past April -- will debut the company's Triad Combat franchise, in which participants fight under boxing and MMA rules within a triangular ring. The legendary rock band will perform several songs as part of the main Triad Combat event, as well as play an exclusive concert featured only on FITE, according to FITE COO Mike Weber. The event retails at a suggested PPV price of $19.99. 

“You have some boxers and MMA fighters involved as part of the Triad Combat event -- and Triller is marketing the heck out of the event -- so we’ll see how it goes,” Weber said. “Metallica is a major hook to bring people in to see something that they’ve never seen before.”

Weber added that Triller brings additional resources to the FITE TV brand, which offers as many as 20 PPV events a week from around the world. In addition to the new Triad Combat franchise, Triller produces PPV boxing events such as last year’s Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. exhibition fight as well as high-profile events such as the VERZUZ franchise, which pits music performers against each other in a battle format.

“While we’ve been a successful company, Triller brings deeper resources to us which will help us on some projects that we’re working on,” Weber said, although he would not provide specific details. ■

Fox broadcasting ‘s coverage of baseball’s World Series leads the Halloween weekend list of TV sports events airing across cable and broadcast networks. The broadcast network will air Game Four of the Houston Astros-Atlanta Braves matchup on Saturday night and Game Five of the Series on Sunday. The World Series was tied at one game each going into Friday night’s action. 

On the combat sports front, ESPN Plus will stream the Saturday afternoon UFC 267 fight card from Abu Dhabi featuring the main event fight between light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Glover Teixeira. Also, Fubo Sports Network will air live the LXF 6 Lights Out Xtreme Fighting mixed martial arts event. In the boxing ring, Showtime, ESPN Plus and DAZN will televise separate Saturday night fight cards.

On the track, NBC on Sunday will televise the NASCAR Cup Xfinity 500 race, while FS1 will provide coverage of the NHRA Dodge/SRT Nationals. 

College football will enter its ninth weekend of its 2021 schedule with nine of the top 10 teams playing on national television networks on Saturday. CBS will air top-ranked Georgia’s game against Florida, while ESPN2 will televise second-ranked Cincinnati’s contest at Tulane. ABC will provide coverage of No. 4 Oklahoma’s game against Texas Tech, and No. 5 Ohio State’s battle against No. 20 Penn State. The remaining schedule includes No. 6 Michigan-No. 8 Michigan State (Fox), No. 7 Oregon-Colorado (Fox), No. 9 Iowa-Wisconsin (ESPN) and No. 10 Ole Miss-No. 18 Auburn (ESPN).

NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings tops a day of regional NFL game telecasts on CBS and Fox.  

Fubo Sports Network is ramping up its live sports offerings this Saturday with coverage of the LXF 6 Lights Out Xtreme Fighting mixed martial arts event, part of several live sports events the network is offering its growing base of viewers.

Traditionally known for unscripted sport-themed content, the two year-old network -- part of FuboTV's streaming platform and available to 75 million devices through such platforms as Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Vizio Channels and XUMO -- has in the past year offered live Conmebol South American World Cup 2022 Qualifying matches as well as live games from Spain’s premier pro basketball league, Liga Endesa along with LXF MMA fights.  

To complement its live sports telecasts, the network and FuboTV this past September launched free-to-play predictive gaming offerings. For this Saturday’s LXF 6 event, the network will allow viewers to engage in free-to-play trivia games to earn points toward a $1,000 prize. Viewers can access the games -- which will appear on the same screen with the event’s live feed -- via remote control without having to open another app, according to the network. 

The live events join the network’s lineup of unscripted, sports-themed series including No Chill with Gilbert Arenas, starring the former NBA all-star basketball player; Getcha Popcorn Ready with T.O. and Hatch, featuring former NFL wide receivers Terrell Owens and Matthew Hatchett; soccer-themed sports talk show The Cooligans; and Drinks with Blinks, hosted by sports broadcaster Julie Stewart-Binks.

Fubo Sports Network head Pamela Duckworth recently spoke to Multichannel News regarding the network’s live sports acquisition strategy as well as the network’s continued focus on athlete-themed original series. An edited version of the interview appears below. 

Multichannel News: How important has the addition of live sports programming been to the evolution of Fubo Sports Network?

Pamela Duckworth: I think it puts us in the game. With our deal with Conmebol, which is a South American World Cup qualifier event, we were able to air some of the games for free on our network. We also did some original shoulder programming around every weekend that we aired the live games in both English and Spanish, and that’s been super successful. We’ve also added Lights Out Xtreme Fighting events, of which we have one this weekend, so it’s been a pretty exciting time for the network.

MCN: Has the addition of live sports programming helped attract a younger audience to Fubo Sports Network?

PD: Yes, particularly the mixed martial arts events. We’ve done some really fun things with it on the digital side. For instance, we’re going to have a social media person at [Saturday's] live event providing some behind the scenes footage, which will go out to viewers at the same time that we’re doing the live show. We think that will help bring in some new, younger viewers as well.

MCN: Overall, how do you see the live TV sports landscape shaping up over the next couple of years?

PD: Just looking at the landscape you’re seeing non-traditional players getting into the field and snatching up a lot of the live sports event rights. We know that live sports is the number one draw for viewers on television … it’s everything that you would want on your network. So we’re out there just like everyone else trying to find any sports that could work on our network.

MCN: Along with live programming, you’ve also added some interactive features to the service. How has that helped serve the network from a viewership and advertiser perspective?

PD: Our free-to-play integrated games do increase the time viewers remain with the platform. I don’t know about you but I love playing trivia, so if viewers are being served up trivia and other games while they’re watching the live event, they’re obviously going to be more engaged. As for advertisers, we’ve had [Anheuser-Busch's] Michelob Ultra as part of our games and we’re actively looking to get other advertisers to be a part of the games. That can only grow exponentially.

MCN: What will Fubo Sports Network look like in 2022?

PD: We’re going to draft off of our successes, which includes our originals. I think it's great to give these athletes a platform where they can showcase the other side of themselves, so I want to grow in that area along with obviously the live sports area.

Univision Communications said it has acquired a “significant” equity stake in mixed-martial arts franchise Combate Global.

The deal is the latest in a series of moves at Univision since it was acquired by a group led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis.

In March, Univision announced a five-year media rights deal with Combate Global that would give Univision 30 live television events a year. With an equity stake, Univision will have more incentive to cover and promote MMA.

Also Read: Univision and Televisa Team Up To Form Spanish-Language Media Giant

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Univision said the deal includes Combate’s La Jaula Studios and that there are plans underway to create future programming, including non-scripted series and stand-alone properties.

“This investment marks the first step in Univision’s broader strategy to deliver more exciting, live combat sports to our audience,” said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of Sports Enterprises, Univision. “Combat sports rank as the second most popular sport among Hispanics. We’re excited to take our successful partnership to the next level as we collaborate with the Combate team to elevate the brand and bring compelling mixed martial arts content across the Univision platforms for years to come.”

When Davis, now CEO of Univision, was with Viacom, it owned Bellator, another MMA outfit.

Also Read: Anthem Sports & Entertainment Buys Invicta Fighting Championships

Combate Global programming began airing live on Univision in 2018, when the company was known as Combate Americas. Univision said that MMA and combat sports is the second-most popular sport among Hispanic after soccer.

“Since teaming up in 2018 Univision and Combate Global have created an entirely new audience for MMA,” said Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren. “Today, those content hungry fans, combined with our dynamic athletes, represent the future of the sport. This announcement underscores Univision’s commitment to Hispanic MMA and we could not be more excited to further strengthen our successful partnership with them.” 

Combate Global this year is averaging 425,000 total viewers on Univision, making it the highest-rated Spanish-language program in its time slot. Combate’s July 23 event had 543,000 total viewers, its highest since 2018.

This weekend’s lineup of live sports content on television begins in Tokyo with NBCUniversal’s Summer Olympics coverage. Linear television networks USA, NBCSN, NBC and CNBC will team to offer live coverage in such sports as softball, swimming, tennis, soccer and beach volleyball, skateboarding and water polo. A complete list of televised Olympics events can be found here.

Read Also: NBCU Gears Up for Olympics with Opening Ceremonies Coverage 

Beyond the Olympics, CBS will offer final round coverage of the 3M Open PGA golf tournament, while Golf Channel will feature the Amundi Evian Championship LPGA tour event. 

ESPN Saturday will present a UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event bantamweight fight between Cory Sandhagen and TJ Dillashaw.

On the soccer field, FS1 and FS2 will televise quarterfinal round action of CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. On Saturday, FS2 will televise the Qatar-El Salvador match, while FS1 offers the Mexico-Honduras game. On Sunday, team USA is in action against Jamaica on FS1, while Costa Rica meets Canada, also airing on FS1. Also, ABC will air a Saturday afternoon MLS game between Columbus and Atlanta.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will originate from Milwaukee as the Brewers host the Chicago White Sox in an interleague matchup. 

The UFC 261 pay-per-view event highlights a packed weekend of live sports programming. 

ESPN Plus will stream the UFC 261 mixed martial arts fight card, headlined by the Kamaru Usman-Jorge Masvidal welterweight fight. Other combat sports include ESPN’s Saturday night boxing card featuring the Emanuel Navarrete-Christopher Diaz featherweight bout. 

ABC’s Saturday night primetime NBA telecast will feature the Los Angeles Lakers against the Dallas Mavericks, while sister sports network ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will feature the San Diego Padres-Los Angeles Dodgers game. 

NBC will air two NHL hockey games this weekend, including Saturday’s Colorado Avalanche-St. Louis Blues game and Sunday’s Boston Bruins-Pittsburgh Penguins contest. 

CBS will take to the links for weekend coverage of the Zurich Classic PGA golf tournament, while FS1 will offer Saturday and Sunday coverage of the Pro Bowler’s Association’s Round of 16 Kia Playoffs. 

In auto sports, Fox will televise the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 race on Saturday and the Geico 500 NASCAR Cup race on Sunday.

Showtime tonight (April 2) launches its inaugural live Bellator mixed martial arts fight telecast with the hope that the combat sports outfit will help pin down new subscribers for the premium channel.  

Showtime is offering free to non-subscribers tonight’s Bellator 255 Patricio Freire-Emmanuel Sanchez fight card -- the first of three consecutive weekly Bellator fight cards that will air as part of a multi-event distribution deal between the two ViacomCBS-owned companies signed in February -- across multiple platforms, including ViacomCBS-owned streaming service Pluto TV. 

In addition, new subscribers signing up to the Showtime streaming service via the Sho.com/BellatorMMA website will receive a 30-day free trial, followed by a discounted monthly subscription fee of $4.99 per month for the next six months, according to Showtime officials.

Showtime is the only one of the major premium cable TV services that consistently offers live combat sports events. The network is looking to appeal to fight fans in 2021 with more than 40 combat sports telecasts featuring Bellator fights -- marking the first time Showtime has aired mixed martial arts events since the early 2010’s -- along with the network’s traditional lineup of boxing events.

“We know that both sports attract very loyal, passionate fans, and these live events have urgency to them,” said Showtime sports and entertainment programming president Stephen Espinoza. “They drive subscriptions and new sign-ups, and create an excitement around Friday nights for Bellator and Saturday nights for boxing that is different from the network’s original series programming.”

For Bellator, which most recently aired its fight cards on CBS Sports Network, the Showtime deal provides much-desired distribution and promotion for the company’s fight cards. 

“We now have a home and the consistency that we’ll be able to provide our fans on Showtime,” Bellator President Scott Coker said. “It’s going to be a good piece of business for us in a sense that the fans know that twice a month they’ll be able to come to Showtime and watch MMA.”

Espinoza said Bellator content most likely will appear on other ViacomCBS properties as the company looks to generate maximum exposure for the mixed martial arts company. 

“One of the exciting things about Bellator being within the ViacomCBS family is that we have the opportunity to utilize it across all platforms, and we’ve already begun to do that,” he said. “We’re going to use this property for the benefit of the corporation across all platforms, which will only drive more attention and build value within Bellator as an organization.”

 Showtime will step into the mixed martial arts octagon with Bellator MMA after reaching a long-term distribution deal with the fight company.

The premium network will launch Bellator in April with fight cards over three consecutive weeks beginning April 2 with the Patricio Freire-Emmanuel Sanchez featherweight championship bout, said the network. 

“Showtime is the preeminent home of premier combat sports in America,” said Stephen Espinoza, Showtime Sports and Event Programming president in a statement. “Today’s announcement not only unites two industry-leading brands, but it unites two teams of experienced event promoters and television producers with a common goal, to deliver the very best live combat sports experience in-arena and on television. We are excited to build on what Bellator MMA has created and to amplify the momentum they’ve gained over the last several years.”

For Bellator, which had been airing its major fights on CBS Sports Network, the deal gives the company up to two events on Showtime a month for the rest of the year. Preliminary matches will stream live on Bellator MMA’s YouTube channel and Showtime Sports’ YouTube Channel. 

“Everyone in this industry knows the history that I have with Showtime. We have done things together that have shaped the sport of mixed martial arts that you see today,” said Bellator MMA President Scott Coker. “But what’s really exciting about this news is that everything we have already accomplished is just the beginning. Today marks a new era for Bellator MMA. With our new teammates at Showtime, we are going to take this brand to a new level, and you are going to see us build upon the foundation set throughout my time with Bellator.”

The UFC has reached a three-year agreement with Roy Jones Jr. (RJJ) Boxing Promotions to stream up to 72 pro boxing matches on its UFC Fight Pass streaming service.

UFC Fight Pass, which offers live and library content from the mixed martial arts company, will stream its first live event of the new deal on Jan. 31 with the Aston Palicte-Jose “Chiquiro” Martinez Junior Bantamweight Title Eliminator fight, according to the UFC.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Roy Jones Jr. and I’m excited to be in business with him,” said UFC President Dana White in a statement. “Everyone knows I’m looking to get into boxing, and I look forward to the future with Roy and using Fight Pass to live stream these exciting fights to our subscribers.”

Fight Pass is available on personal computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, LG Smart TVs, and Sony TVs with Android TV, according to the UFC. 

Showtime and UFC’s Aug. 26 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view event drew 4.3 million buys, falling just short of the all time industry record, Showtime confirmed Thursday.

RELATED: Record In Sight For Mayweather-McGregor

The fight, which pitted undefeated former boxing champion Mayweather against UFC MMA champion McGregor, finished second behind the 4.6 million buys garnered by the May 2015 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, but dwarfs the 2.48 million buys garnered by the May 2007 Oscar De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, which in now in third place. 

The Mayweather-McGregor buy count includes purchases from traditional television distribution as well as buys from online portals from Showtime and the UFC, said Showtime.

(Video) Showtime's Stephen Espinoza says Mayweather-McGregor Positive For Boxing

Showtime this month will air a documentary that explores the origins of the mixed martial arts movement.

The documentary film, Tough Guys, which premieres Sept. 15, chronicles the loosely regulated mixed martial arts competitions of the 1980s Pittsburgh that served as a precursor to what has now become organized MMA competitions and franchises, including the UFC.

Tough Guys is executive produced by Ross Kauffman and Morgan Spurlock, as well as their respective producing partners, Raeshem Nijhon and Jeremy Chilnick.

Sling TV, coming off its carriage of the Aug. 26 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view boxing event, will offer its fight fans the upcoming Sept. 9 UFC 215  and Sept. 16 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin PPV combat sports events, the network said Wednesday.

Sling TV customers can now purchase the UFC 215 mixed-martial arts event -- which features as its main event the Demetrious Johnson-Ray Borg fight -- as well as the Alvarez-Golovkin boxing event, which retails at $79.99, said Sling TV officials.

Both pay-per-view events will be available for viewing across all Sling TV-supported devices, according to the company. 

The two events follow Sling TV’s carriage of the Mayweather-McGregor fight, which is on pace to matching or surpassing the all-time PPV buy record of 2.6 million buys set by the 2015 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao PPV event.

The heavily hyped Aug. 26 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view boxing match proved to be worth the wait for both distributors and fans, and industry executives said they hope it boosts future pay-per-view boxing and UFC events.

Showtime last Friday reported that the fight, in which boxer Floyd Mayweather improved his record to 50-0 with a 10th round TKO over the game UFC/mixed martial arts champion McGregor — is expected to draw in the “mid to high” 4 million PPV buy range, which would potentially knock out the record 4.6 million buys generated by Mayweather’s 2015 fight with Manny Pacquiao. It could also eclipse the $450 million generated by the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout.

“We consider this a huge success,” Showtime Sports and Event Programming executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza told Multichannel News. “We could very well break the record — we just haven’t seen enough of the data to definitively say that — we’re either over the record or very close. Even if we don’t break the record, it’s still a massive success.”

Some MVPDs were reportedly overwhelmed by a flurry of last-minute fight purchases, to the point where Showtime officials said the Mayweather-McGregor main event was “slowed down” to allow distributors to complete orders. Espinoza, though, said there were no major distributor problems regarding buys. “We didn’t even experience the level of technical issues that we saw on Mayweather-Pacquiao,” he added.

Espinoza also called reports that the network’s new Showtime PPV app suffered major technological problems during the event “exaggerated,” saying that the network only received a “limited” number of complaints, which were quickly addressed. Showtime will provide refunds to those who were unable to see the purchased event, he added.

UFC’s website UFC.TV also struggled to keep up with demand, prompting the company to issue several post-fight statements regarding the issue. UFC said it is reviewing each consumer complaint on a “case-by-case basis,” adding that it was “disappointed by the technical difficulties that were experienced … We are working with our vendor NeuLion to assess exactly what happened.”

UFC president Dana White also said in a statement: “Nothing is more important to the UFC than our fans. They’ve always been incredibly loyal and supportive, and we’ll always take care of them.”

Some 3 million viewers watched the fight illegally, according to video security company Irdeto. Espinoza admitted that it was nearly impossible to totally eliminate illegal viewing of the fight given its magnitude.

“Like all events with this kind of appeal, we’re going to have people who will try to view it illegally,” he said. “We took, along with our partners, unprecedented action both before and during the fight to block and remove as many of the illegal streams as possible. ”

Despite the online problems, most industry observers said the fight inside the ring was better than expected, with UFC champion McGregor holding his own in his first ever boxing match, and will easily finish as the year’s most lucrative PPV event.

Former HBO head of pay-per-view Mark Taffet said the fight will generate significant momentum for both the PPV boxing and UFC categories. Both sports have PPV events scheduled over the next two weeks: The UFC will distribute its Sept. 9 UFC 215 pay-per-view event featuring Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg, while HBO will offer its Sept. 16 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin bout.

“Mayweather-McGregor clearly exceeded fans’ expectations, and that is great news for both boxing and UFC,” Taffet said. “It bodes well for both sports, and I think it’s one of those great instances in which everyone comes out a winner — boxing, MMA, McGregor, Mayweather and the fans.”

UFC president Dana White will launch a weekly, live mixed martial arts fight series next month that will stream on the UFC Fight Pass digital subscription service, the company said Tuesday.

The weekly series, Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, will debut July 11 and will feature five live fights weekly showcasing up-and-coming MMA talent as well as athletes striving to revive their professional mixed martial arts careers, said UFC officials.

The Contender Series, which will be filmed in The Ultimate Fighter gym in Las Vegas, will serve as a vehicle to identify top prospects as well as the next generation of UFC stars. The series will stream every Tuesday on UFC Fight Pass, which offers live MMA event programming as well as an extensive library of MMA content. 

“This sport continues to get bigger all over the world, and the more fights we can put on, the more talent we can find, the better the events will be for the fans,” UFC President Dana White said in a statement. “This show’s going to give us another opportunity to bring in young fighters who we think have potential to make it in the UFC or maybe even one day become world champions. It’ll also give some fighters who might be in a slump or on their way out of the organization an opportunity for that last shot.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship’s $4 billion sale to talent company WME-IMG has delivered a powerful financial and brand-building punch to UFC as well as the wider mixed-martial-arts sports category, industry observers said.

The deal, the most expensive purchase of a sports franchise in history, completes a journey begun in 2001 when Zuffa LLC, owned by brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta as well as UFC president Dana White, purchased the then-struggling franchise from Semaphore Entertainment Group for $2 million. At the time, UFC was limited to pay-per-view distribution and was outlawed by many states that considered MMA fighting too violent, but the Fertittas and White slowly created a franchise that now is considered a legitimate pro sport alongside boxing and has strong appeal with millennials.

“Nobody involved in the UFC could have imagined that the franchise would be valued at $4 billion,” said Bas Rutten, UFC Hall of Fame fighter and co-host of AXS TV’s mixed-martial-arts series Inside MMA. “The sale will solidify the UFC, and more people will now be interested in the UFC because they heard about the deal and want to check it out.”

Currently, UFC is in the midst of a multiyear television deal with Fox Sports that expires in 2018. Live UFC events televised by Fox and FS1 have delivered knockout ratings for the networks — thus far in 2016, UFC on Fox fights have averaged a combat sports high of 2.6 million viewers, while Fight Night bouts on FS1 have averaged 1.1 million viewers.

“We’re happy that the hard work and value created by Lorenzo, Frank and Dana has been rewarded,” Fox Sports president and chief operating officer Eric Shanks said regarding UFC’s sale. “We have been thrilled to be a partner on the ride and are big believers in the sport and the stars that have been created. We’re looking forward to beginning the next chapter with [WME] and Dana.”

The deal was also celebrated by owners of other mixed-martial-arts franchises who believe the $4 billion UFC purchase price also builds more value for their franchises and the MMA sport itself.

“It just shows that this industry can be a very profitable one if done properly, and there are people that want to invest in MMA,” said Scott Coker, CEO of Bellator MMA, which is owned by Viacom and offers live MMA events on Spike TV. “To see a number like that is great because the credibility and respectability of MMA is finally coming to the forefront.”

If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.

With the two major distribution mergers of the past year — Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems-Altice N.V. — heading for the finish line, some analysts wonder if content could be the next beehive of activity on the deal front.

Greasing the speculation wheels: Comcast’s $3.8 billion pact to buy DreamWorks Animation, which some believe could encourage other TV distributors to take a harder look at the programming space.

The DreamWorks Animation deal could shed new light on programming targets, BTIG media analyst Brandon Ross said in a blog post, especially as distributors look for new ways to differentiate themselves from the growing list of over-the-top providers. DreamWorks was just the first in what could be a series of content deals, Ross said.

SUITORS FOR PARAMOUNT STAKE

Viacom has said it has more than a dozen potential suitors for the planned sale of a minority interest in movie studio Paramount. And talk heated up in April that mixed martial arts content provider Ultimate Fighting Championship was for sale. Reports in the MMA industry press said UFC could be worth as much as $6 billion.

Ross said the potential jewel in the content heap could be World Wrestling Entertainment, the scripted sports entertainment juggernaut headed by Vince McMahon. While neither WWE nor McMahon has even hinted at being interested in a sale, Ross said the time could be right to give some serious thought to it.

WWE makes sense for a strategic buyer on several fronts. Its content is popular with young viewers (Monday Night Raw is a consistent ratings draw for USA Network), it has a strong digital presence with the over-the-top WWE Network and, at a total valuation of about $1.3 billion, it’s digestible for larger players.

Comcast’s willingness to pay a premium for DreamWorks Animation — about 20 times cash flow — to basically take out controlling shareholder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg indicates it might be willing to act similarly with McMahon.

Keeping Vince McMahon around would be critical to any deal with WWE, Ross said. A strategic investment might be the best way to make a deal happen.

FBN Securities cable, satellite and entertainment managing director Robert Routh thinks the chances the McMahons would sell are slim. Besides, he said, content-hungry distributors have several other potential targets.

Routh does not think the Comcast-DreamWorks deal will necessarily lead to more content acquisitions by Comcast: federal regulators would probably prevent that. And with NBCUniversal already in the fold, Comcast probably doesn’t need more content.

Pairing content and distribution used to be more commonplace. For example, Time Warner Inc. owned both Time Warner Cable and Turner Broadcasting Systems and Tele-Communications Inc. was paired with Liberty Media. Those companies and their successors eventually split programming and distribution assets after synergies became less apparent.

“It’s kind of like Back to the Future,” Routh said. “Distributors are starting to say that owning content with distribution, under the right conditions, can make a ton of sense, especially if it’s highly focused content.”

CHART: Back to the Future

Pay TV operators, once keen on divesting programming assets from their distribution business, may be looking at adding content to the mix as they seek to further differentiate themselves from OTT competitors. Here are a few possible candidates for consolidation.

Company                       Market Cap                                                   Top Content

Starz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2.67 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Starz, Encore

Scripps Networks . . . . . $7.87 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HGTV, Food Network

Viacom . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16.5 billion . . . . . . . . . MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon

AMC Networks . . . . . . . $4.6 billion . . . . . . . . AMC, IFC, WE tv, BBCA, SundanceTV

MGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.5 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . thisTV, EPIX

WWE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.27 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WWE Network

Lionsgate . . . . . . . . . . . $3.26 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EPIX

DHX Media . . . . . . . . . $762.6 million . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SuperWhy!

RLJ Entertainment . . .  $8.06 million . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Acorn TV

SOURCES: FDM Securities, Dow Jones, Multichannel News estimates

While most televised professional and college sports games can be watched online on multiple devices, a good number of major pay-per-view ring-sports events have yet to enter the digital arena.

FITE TV is trying to change that. The mobile app, developed by digital media company Flipps Media, currently offers live boxing events, as well as pro wrestling and mixed martial arts content, streamed to mobile phones. The app is available via iTunes or Google Play and gives users the option of watching on their devices or connecting directly to a smart TV.

Through distribution deals with such event providers as Golden Boy Promotions (boxing), TNA (pro wrestling) and World Series of Fighting (MMA), FITE TV is streaming an average of eight live free and fee-based ring sports events per week.

FITE TV CEO Kosta Jordanov recently spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the service, as well as his aspirations to eventually offer fight fans the opportunity to watch the biggest PPV ring-sports events online. An edited excerpt of their conversation follows.

RELATED:Spring's Live Ring Sports on Cable and Broadcast

MCN:Do people actually want to watch a fight on a mobile phone?

Kosta Jordanov: It depends on the content. The trend is that people are shifting to short-form clips, and for those people who watch that content, the size of the screen doesn’t matter that much.

When it comes to sports, however, people want to watch live sports on a large screen. For a three-hour show that you’ve paid $30 to $40 for, the small screen doesn’t work. You want to sit with friends, drink a beer and watch a fight on the large screen. That’s what’s so attractive about FITE TV. The biggest differentiator is our technical ability to connect the stream and bring it to the big screen. We don’t have any hardware for a specific box to be connected to the TV, and there’s no need for a cable subscription.

Basically, we do IP delivery over the big screen using the mobile device as a remote-control interface. The only requirement is that the mobile device and the TV have to be on the same network. The stream goes through a cloud service that we support going to the big screen.

MCN:What are some of the rights deals that you have with ring sports providers?

KJ: We already have deals with 35 event providers on the wrestling, MMA and boxing side. We have a deal with TNA [and] Ring of Honor, on the wrestling side; Legacy [Fighting Championship] and WSOF [World Series of Fighting] on the mixed-martial-arts side, and Golden Boy Promotions and Integrated Sports for boxing. There really isn’t a reason for a content partner not to work for us — it’s all upside for everyone involved.

We’re just one more distributor that they have to work with, but we have a slightly different reach. We’re reaching cord-cutters; people outside the country. We also help our partners with the promotion of the event through Facebook and Twitter ads, sponsored ads. We can also provide content to specific countries.

MCN:Do you see a time when you’ll be able to stream a major PPV boxing event from HBO or Showtime?

KJ: I think it’s doable. I think we would probably start with some distribution outside of the prime window, or it could start with streaming of prelims, weigh-ins and other supporting events leading up to the main-event card. Again, we’re just another Dish or DirecTV; we’re one more provider that can help provide revenue.

MCN:How does a consumer purchase an event to stream?

KJ: Through the FITE TV app, you can purchase the event just like you would through iTunes or Google Play. Once purchased, you get a confirmation from both FITE TV and from iTunes or Google Play.

MCN:The knock on streaming has been the piracy factor — there’s a lot of stealing of the signal when it’s on the Web. How can you assure event providers that you can eliminate piracy?

KJ: We have a very secure content-protection platform that we’ve been working on for the last four years. Through this platform, we’ve streamed content from CBS, Bloomberg [Television] and some of the movie studios that really have high requirements for signal protection. That said, every single signal can be hacked, but we’re actually more safe than traditional systems. It’s harder to steal the content from us than it is from cable.

MCN:Are there any plans to extend your content beyond ring sports?

KJ: We’re very focused on ring sports — we don’t have any plans to go to any areas until we own the space. After that, we may look at other events.

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Online video platform FilmOn is looking to punch up--and kick up--its lineup with the addition of a 24/7 mixed martial arts (MMA) fan channel.

MMA Now TV, which launches today (March 3), will include live, original content from UFC 196's Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Holly Holm, Miesha Tate and others, according to the company. McGregor v. Diaz and Holm v. Tate are on the UFC 196 main card March 5.

The channel is the creation of Kim Hurwitz, chief content officer; Carl Dawson, chief marketing officer; and MMA “insider” David Kano, who will host many of its shows, according to FilmOn.

Content will include documentaries, reality and talk shows, and live events including UFC 196 open workouts, interviews, weigh-ins and post-fight press conferences. There will be an option for VR 360 access as well.

FilmOn CEO Alki David said he has been a fan of MMA for a decade and saw it as an opportunity to serve the sport's "true fans."

Spike’s Bellator 138 mixed martial arts card featuring the Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock main event Friday night pinned down a record 1.6 million viewers for the network.

The card was the most watched Bellator event in Spike history, while the Slice-Shamrock fight was the highest rated and most watched Bellator MMA fight ever, delivering 2.1 million viewers.

 The previous high for a Bellator fight was 1.8 million viewers generated by the Nov. 14, 2014 Tito Ortiz-Stephan Bonnar fight during Bellator 131 event, which also held the most watched Bellator event with 1.2 million viewers overall, said network officials.   

Mixed Martial Arts company Bellator MMA has named Jason Jordan as its COO, company officials said.

Jordan will oversee financial and operational aspects of the business, as well as manage corporate strategy and business development efforts, said network officials. He’ll report to Scott Coker, Bellator MMA president.

Bellator MMA events currently air on Spike TV and well as via pay-per-view.  

Jordan will continue his role as senior vice president of digital operations, strategy & finance for Viacom Entertainment Group.

“As Bellator continues to evolve into a premier mixed martial franchise, we are thrilled to join forces with such a dynamic and strategic leader with an incredibly comprehensive background in major entertainment brands such as Viacom and Disney,” said Coker in a statement.