About one month after announcing the deal, Endeavor has closed its purchase of online, multiscreen technology and services company NeuLion.

Pursuant to the terms of the transaction, which was valued at about $250 million when it was announced in March, each share of NeuLion common stock that was issued and outstanding on May 7, 2018 was automatically converted into the right to receive 84 cents in cash, without interest and subject to deduction for any required withholding tax.

In connection with the completion of the transaction, NeuLion common stock will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange, as NeuLion becomes a privately held subsidiary of Endeavor. Endeavor’s companies include WME, IMG and UFC, and a business that spans talent representation, brand marketing, sponsorship and licensing, media sales and distribution and events.

Endeavor has struck a deal to acquire online, multiscreen technology and services company NeuLion for about $250 million in cash.

Under the deal, announced Monday, Endeavor will acquire outstanding common shares of NeuLion for 84 cents each.

The deal is expected to close in Q2 2018, and have NeuLion become a privately held subsidiary of Endeavor, which was known as WME|IMG prior to a name change announced in October 2017.

Endeavor’s companies include WME, IMG and UFC, and a business that spans talent representation, brand marketing, sponsorship and licensing, media sales and distribution and events.

NeuLion’s current crop of streaming customers includes the UFC, NBA, Univision, National Geographic, Sky Sports, Poker Central, Eleven Sports, EFL, ITV, Euroleague Basketball, World Surf League, ITV, RugbyPass.com, Big Ten Network and the NFL, among others.

“We’re excited by the value delivered to our stockholders through this transaction, and we’re looking forward to the dynamic opportunities that being part of the Endeavor family will provide for both our current and new clients,” Roy Reichbach, president and CEO of NeuLion, said in a statement.

“Through our content portfolio, client base, and broader network of rights holders we’ve encountered many different platforms for distributing and monetizing content,” added Ariel Emanuel, Endeavor’s CEO. “NeuLion provides an ideal combination of technology and client services, and we’re excited for the value this brings to our existing partners and the foundation it provides for our future digital growth.”

Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as Endeavor’s legal counsel in the deal, while The Raine Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to Endeavor. NeuLion’s legal advisor is Loeb & Loeb LLP, and its financial advisor is Needham & Company.

NeuLion said it live stream the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight for several global rights holders, including the UFC, Sky Sports, Sky New Zealand and Eleven Sports Network.

RELATED: Gearing Up for a Pay-Per-View KO (subscription required)

Those partners will use NeuLion’s Digital Platform for the live streaming of the four-fight Showtime PPV event, set for Saturday, Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

NeuLion said its platform will handle authentication and purchasing of bout for each of the four partner offerings, including UFC.TV, Sky Sports Box Office, Sky Fan Pass and the Eleven Sports Network’s OTT service.

RELATED: Sling TV to Offer Mayweather-McGregor PPV

NeuLion, which will deliver and monitor the live event from its technical operations centers in New York and London, said it also designed and developed the consumer experience for its respective streaming partners.

Online video specialist NeuLion said it has forged an extended partnership with the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) through the 2021/2022  season for the conference's subscription streaming package.  

Under the new deal, NeuLion will deliver several new features and extend support for more devices for NCHC.tv, the live and on-demand digital network for the NCAA Division I men’s hockey conference, which includes Colorado College, the University of Denver, Miami University, the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University.

In addition to support for the web and for Apple TV and Roku devices, NeuLion will also support NCHC.tv apps for iOS and Android mobile devices prior to the 2017/2018 season.

Also new to the service will be “timeline markers” that allow viewers to re-watch and navigate live and on-demand events, and drill down to view specific plays, goals and saves.

NCHC.tv is set to offer more than 140 live games featuring the conference’s schools, complemented by post-game highlights, press conferences, and condensed games.

Ahead of the new season, NCHC is offering an “early bird” price of $94.95 through September 15, before rising to $109.95. Starting September 16, NCHC will also offer a School Annual Subscriptions that grant access to all available home and road games for one team in the conference for $94.95.

Additionally, NCHC will sell Conference Monthly Subscriptions for $26.95, and School Monthly Subscriptions for $19.95.

The new season is slated to start on September 30 with five exhibition games. The regular season starts Friday, Oct. 6.

Last season, NCHC.tv said it delivered more than 1,000 hours of video content, with a 35% increase in hours of live streams from the previous season. Live streams last season were up 84% from the 2015/2016 campaign, and subscriptions have increased by more than 50% from the 2014/2015 season to the 2016/2017 season, they said.

Despite a week of upbeat virtual reality developments, promises and encouragement -- the first Disney-backed Marvel VR game, six Emmy nominations for VR "experiences," an endorsement from a top streaming media packager plus a big (albeit temporary) discount from Oculus -- the outlook for the immersive technology continues to baffle media analysts.

The recent string of frothy announcements comes just a few weeks after Ericsson released a generally effusive outlook about VR, especially its value in video programming.

So while technology and programming suppliers continue to proclaim VR's looming role in entertainment (as well as in industrial, medical and other professional applications), media operators are still going slow in planning for the bandwidth and transmission requirements that VR will require. For now, much of the discussion still revolves around the near-VR (but usually not immersive) presentations of 360⁰ cameras, increasingly showing up as thumbnail videos in social media and other online feeds.

Nonetheless, the mid-summer bump of simultaneous VR developments served as a reminder that this technology could still become a $100 billion global industry by 2020 (as Nokia forecasts) and reach 49.2 million American by 2019, according to a report by eMarketer.

At Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., last weekend, the studio plunged back into the games category (from which it had withdrawn last year) via its subsidiary Marvel. It unveiled "Marvel Powers United VR," which will debut next year. Gamers can play at varying skill levels using Marvel characters such as Rocket Raccoon, Deadpool, Captain Marvel and The Hulk. Disney has partnered with Facebook-owned Oculus.

Related > CTA Projects Record Revenue for VR

A day before D23 began, when the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced nominees for the 69th Emmy Awards, VR was in the running with six projects nominated in the "Original Interactive Program" and "Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program" categories (the academy hasn't created a VR category).

In the first category, all three nominations came from Oculus, some with a partner. One of those nominees is The People's House, featuring a White House tour with Barack and Michelle Obama. The second category included The Mr. Robot Virtual Reality Experience from USA Universal Cable Productions, Stranger Things VR Experience from Netflix and CBS Digital, and The Simpsons – Planet of the Couches from Gracie Films, 20th Century Fox Television and Google Spotlight Stories.

More Content, Lower Prices
Separately, Oculus announced that it will put $50 million of the $250 million already committed to VR content into “non-gaming, experiential VR content," according to published reports.

Meanwhile Oculus just slashed its equipment pricing. It has temporarily bundled its Rift headset and Touch controller into a $399 package, about $200 lower than the $598 price announced in March, which itself marked a drop from the $799 Oculus kit price early this year. The company said the summer-long promotional pricing seeks to attract potential customers who "may have been sitting on the sideline because of price," as well as viewers who have been waiting for more apps and games to become available.

Related > VR Equipment Market Mixed: Study

And at a July 18 webinar on "How to Produce, Deliver, Monetize & Experience VR Content,” NeuLion and Nokia executives urged media companies to plunge into VR opportunities.

VR has moved "beyond simple streaming,” said NeuLion executive VP Chris Wagner, because "there’s so much more to do to interact with the viewer” to enhance the video-viewing experience.

“Compelling content is [vital] to make sure that you have that most immersive experience,” added Malachi Bierstein, head of VR sales at Nokia. 

“Without the content, not really much else matters," Bierstein said in published reports from the webinar. "So, really that compelling content is going to be the ultimate driver of VR adoption."

Their pleas for high-quality video content backed up findings from an extensive Ericsson "Merged Reality" study published a few weeks earlier.

That study found that 54% of respondents believe VR devices will become the new screens for video. About the same number (53%) expect video to be one of the most popular uses for VR.

Notably, current "early adopters" were significantly more enthusiastic than survey respondents who "are planning to use a headset," but the overall optimism is promising for a product that currently has a very limited footprint. (According to eMarketer, only 2.9% of Americans now use a VR headset at least once-per-month, a figure that will grow to just 5.2% by 2019.)

Related: Facebook Dives Deeper Into AR

Many analysts still believe that augmented reality -- a more limited, less expensive approach to content enhancement that doesn't require special headsets and other gear -- will make its mark in the mass media well before VR. As an example: During next month's total solar eclipse, the Weather Channel will use AR during its all-day coverage to explain the science of how the eclipse develops.

Perhaps even more pertinent: A Facebook group that has focused on VR for several years this week expanded its name to "Virtual and Augmented Reality."

Online video specialist NeuLion said it has entered a new deal to power PokerGO, the OTT-delivered subscription service that provides access to a lineup of live and on-demand content dedicated to poker.

Poker Central launched PokerGO in May, debuting about six months after the company decided to shut down a linear TV network that was carried by a handful of MVPDs. The new OTT version of the service is available in  more than 150 countries.

RELATED: Poker Central Bets on OTT

Under the streaming-focused deal, PokerGO is using NeuLion’s Digital Platform, which handles distribution and monetization components for the OTT service.

PokerGO currently supports several platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devices, Xbox One and PlayStation consoles, Apple TV boxes, Roku players, and Amazon Fire TV devices.

The English football league is about to hit the global stage.

The EFL — a fixture on traditional TV in the United Kingdom, whose top teams are promoted to the English Premier League — will be available in about 180 more countries starting in early August via a new subscription service that will lean heavily on NeuLion’s online video-services platform.

The service, called iFollow, will feature about 1,500 matches from 72 clubs across three divisions, along with replays, highlights and behind-the-scenes content. It will be available in the local currencies.

In the U.S., iFollow, already available for preorder, costs about $140 for the upcoming season. A version of iFollow for EFL supporters in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland will sell for £45 (U.S. $57), but won’t include live, streamed games due to TV-rights restrictions in the region.

Notably, the this season’s EFL subscription OTT offering this season will be the first to use a “virtual” announcer feature from NeuLion, according to company executive vice president Chris Wagner.

NeuLion will capture the live video stream from each venue, along with the ambient crowd noise, and strip out the regular broadcast TV commentary, stitching in play-by-play calls and commentary from announcers viewing that live stream from a centrally located studio in the U.K.

Though the initial version of the virtual announcer concept will be in English, it can easily support multiple languages for different geographic locations, Wagner said. NeuLion already supports more than nine different languages for NBA International League Pass, the pro-hoops league’s on-demand package sold outside of the U.S.

In addition to handling the virtual commentary, NeuLion will also prepare the live streams and offer them at multiple bit rates, up to HD for viewers with enough bandwidth to support that format. NeuLion has also built the monetization engine for iFollow, as well as the virtual storefronts and the individual apps.

Initially, the EFL OTT offering will be available on the web and via mobile apps, with support for TV-connected devices currently on the roadmap. PokerGo, the new subscription OTT service that emerged about six months after Poker Central shut down a linear TV network targeted for traditional pay TV distribution, already works with NeuLion to deliver service on devices such as Roku players, Amazon Fire TV and Apple boxes, Chromecast adapters, Android TV devices, and Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Though the EFL is taking a streaming-only path outside the U.K. and Ireland, it’s not the only soccer league to broaden its OTT horizons. Last month, NBC Sports Group announced a separate direct-to-consumer streaming subscription package for the Premier League, offering 130 live games and extras for $50, starting this August.

NBC Sports will continue to offer a batch of Premier League games on NBC, NBCSN and CNBC that won’t be offered on the separate streaming package, which will now feature some games it had previously offered via its authenticated TV Everywhere app for pay TV subscribers.

Facebook, meanwhile said it would stream more than a dozen live matches from the UEFA Champions League this fall for free in the U.S. in partnership with Fox Sports, which holds domestic rights to the tournament.

NeuLion and Nokia have inked a partnership whereby NeuLion will help to distribute virtual reality and video 360 content captured with Nokia’s OZO VR camera and player software platform. 

Working with content owners and content rights holders, they will offer a jointly integrated platform that allows for a single stitched live video feed from OZO cameras to be sent directly to NeuLion MC Encoders for packaging and delivery to VR apps via the Internet using NeuLion’s Digital Platform.

They said they will demo the integrated offering at next month’s IBC show in Amsterdam.

Nokia’s OZO is a spherical camera with eight sensors and eight microphones for the capture and post-production of 360 video and VR content. NeuLion and Nokia noted that they recently captured a live event using OZO, which was positioned inside the arena.

“We are excited to partner with NeuLion to provide their customers with an integrated solution to deliver 360 and VR experiences over-the-top,” Tarif Sayed, director of business development for Live VR & the OZO Player SDK for Nokia, said in a statement.

“Now that live 360 video and virtual reality are hitting the mainstream, you need an end-to-end platform that includes production and delivery to make it happen. We are excited to be working with Nokia on this new capability,” added Roy Reichbach, president and CEO of NeuLion. 

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will team with satellite distributor DirecTv and technology company NeuLion to offer a 4K feed for Saturday’s UFC 200 pay-per-view event.

The first ever UFC 4K PPV event telecast will be available to DirecTV customers with compatible 4K televisions and set-top-boxes -- although its unclear exactly what percentage of the satellite service’s subscribers will actually be able to access the feed – as well as via the UFC.tv app, according to UFC officials.

The 4K feed will cost $69.99 -- $10 more than the traditional HD feed. UFC executive vice president of operations and production Craig Borsari said the 4K feed will provide UFC fans with an enhanced viewing experience for the mixed martial arts company's biggest PPV event of the year.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to be cutting edge in the technology stage when it comes to TV production,” Bosari said. “This is one of those productions that we feel is going to be the way of the future in sports television, so we wanted to be one of the first to market in 4K.”

For DirecTV, the event marks the satellite service's first 4K pay-per-view telecast, although the satellite service has offered Major League Baseball games and the Masters Golf tournament in 4K since launching its sports 4K initiative this past April, according to DirecTv senior vice president of content operations John Ward.

“People are amazed at the [4K] resolution,” Ward said. “We think that 4K is going to really highlight the intimacy of the sport.”

NeuLion will provide the technological backbone for the delivery of the UFC 200 4K feed. "UFC is our first partner to offer live 4K streaming under a pay per view transaction," said Chris Wagner, executive vice president of NeuLion. “We have worked with our partners to create the only end-to-end solution on the market for the delivery, monetization and distribution of 4K video at 60 frames per second on the world's most popular devices. It’s an exciting time to be in the digital business.”

 While 4K will enhance the live fight action from UFC 200, Borsari said he’s excited about utilizing 4K for knockout replay video. “If we wanted to push in on a replay and see a fist or a kick in a tighter perspective, you’re going to see that in a higher resolution than you would in a 1080i or HD broadcast,” he said.

He added that actual PPV buys from the 4K feed is not as important as delivering a smooth, quality picture to viewers.

“We’re not as concerned right now about consumption – this is new technology and not everyone of our fans or viewers is able to watch 4K broadcasts just yet,” he said. “We’re not going to get too muddled down on performance and consumption and instead focus more on technical execution.”

The event will go on without its main event fight after fighter Jon Jones was pulled from his bout with light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier Wednesday night after the U.S Anti-Doping Agency reported that Jones tested positive for a banned perfomrance-enhancing substance.  Comier will instead fight Anderson Silva, according to the UFC.

NeuLion,  the live and on-demand video streaming specialist, said it’s teaming with MediaPro to deliver a live 4K stream of the April 2 La Liga matchup between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, a fixture between rival clubs that's also known as “El Clasico.”

The game, set for Saturday at Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, will be available over-the-top via NeuLion’s Digital Platform to Sony 4K HDR Ultra HDs that have integrated the vendor’s 4K Streaming SDK.

The live event, produced by Mediapro and Overon, is being streamed in advance of the launch of a new Overon 4K app that will be made available for select 4K devices in the coming months, they said.

“Streaming the ‘Classico’ soccer match live in 4K for the first time, is a new milestone, in a series of firsts that NeuLion has achieved, as we lead the momentum in the end-to-end delivery of live 4K sports to internet connected devices," said Dr. Kanaan Jemili, CEO of NeuLion, in a statement. "We are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with Mediapro and Overon.  Together and over the coming months, we expect to continue to deliver great compelling experiences to sports fans.”

NeuLion has been involved in four live 4K events in the last year, the last being with Univision and Sony for the February 10 friendly between Mexico’s National Team and Senegal at Marlins Park Stadium in Miami.

NeuLion and Major League Soccer will keep their streaming partnership going for a seventh year after striking a renewal for the 2016 season that will factor in some enhancements to MLS LIVE, the league's OTT, multi-screen subscription service.

MLS doesn’t break out specific sub numbers for MLS LIVE, but said the over-the-top subscription offering grew its base by more than 60% for the 2015 season.

That offering sees a renewal rate of more than 85% each year, Chris Schlosser, SVP and GM of MLS Digital said, noting that the sales cycle for 2016 is underway and the “numbers are looking very positive.”

“OTT is a very important area for us,” Schlosser said. “We deliver a very targeted millennial audience.”

Heading into the new season, which kicks off March 6, will cost $79.99 per year or $16.99 per month. MLS LIVE streams out seven local games per week (MLS also offers three  national broadcasts per week via ESPN, Univision and Fox that are blacked out on MLS LIVE). About half of the MLS clubs do allow in-market streaming (here’s how the blackout policies for the 2016 season stack up on a club-by-club basis in the U.S. and Canada). All blacked out games do become available to MLS LIVE subs 48 hours after the match.

Additionally, MLS LIVE features an archive of  games from the past six seasons, instant replays during live games, and access to condensed, 15-minute versions of games following live matches. The Web-based version of MLS LIVE also supports a multi-game feature.

This year, the OTT service will tack on some enhancements, including closer integration with MLSsoccer.com via a single sign-on and a cleaner, redesigned interface for the Web and mobile apps.

Last season, about 40% of MLS LIVE subs watched on PCs, and the same percentage watched on smartphones and tablets (Android and iOS), while the remaining 20% watched on TV-connected platforms  such as Roku players, Apple TV boxes, and via the Chromecast streaming adapter.

NeuLion’s role is to manage and package the live feeds into different formats and deliver them in a range of bit rates and resolutions for the variety of devices supported by MLS LIVE.

To enable the service to scale and optimize streaming performance, NeuLion uses multiple content delivery network partners (Akamai, Limelight Networks and Level 3 Communications) and has the ability to switch those paths based on how they are handling the load, explained Chris Wagner, NeuLion’s executive vice president, marketplace strategy.

NeuLion, a provider of live and on-demand digital video distribution systems, said it has renewed its deal with the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and helped it introduce upgrades for PBA Xtra Frame, an OTT service.

The upgraded OTT offering, which includes new mobile apps and an enhanced HD video player,  was introduced in time for the PBA’s first “major” of the season, this week’s PBA Firelake Tournament of Champions, NeuLion said.

The PBA launched Xtra Frame with NeuLion in 2010. Xtra Fame offers live and on-demand events, including all PBA, PBA50 and PWBA Tour events and archived ESPN telecasts. It fetches $3.99 for a three-day pass, $7.99 per month, or $64.99 per year. 

Las Vegas -- Here’s another snapshot of what else is making news at this week’s tech-fest in Las Vegas. Follow our continuing CES coverage at our CES news site.

-FreeCast is using CES to springboard its new Select TV Box (pictured), a broadband-connected video aggregation platform that, the company claims, will offer access to more than 350,000 TV episodes, 200,000 movies, 1,000 “web channels,” and access to local broadcast networks. The box, which will sell for $99, is paired with a $2.99 per month subscription service. 

-Quantenna Communications has teed up a 10G Wave 3 WiFi product family for a new generation of cable modems and gateways based on DOCSIS 3.1,  the new multi-gigabit broadband platform for HFC networks. To achieve that, Quantenna is pairing its True 8x8 QSR10G Wi-Fi platform with Intel Corp.’s DOCSIS 3.1-facing Puma 7 SoC. Quantenna said its WiFi platform can deliver up to 10 Gbps and deliver up to 12 simultaneous streams.

-JW Player, a digital and mobile video platform and player company, has raised a $20 million “D” round of funding led by existing investor Greycroft Growth, Greenspring Associates, Cueball Capital, and e.ventures. JW Player, which has raised $46.5 million so far, will use the new round to drive development of new data-centric SaaS products, boost international sales and marketing. The company said its flagship product, JW Player, is live on more than 2 million sites, and generates more than 1.3 billion monthly unique viewers across devices such as tablets, and desktops.

-NeuLion said Samsung Electronics will integrate its DivX CE software development kit to enable 4K live and on-demand streaming on Samsung’s lineup of 2016 Ultra HD TVs. NeuLion, which acquired video encoding/delivery specialist DivX a year ago, said its approach enables streaming up to 4Kp60 and is powered by the baseline NeuLion Digital Platform.

-MaxLinear is billing MxL3705 single-chip platform, equipped with MoCA 2.0 home networking technology, is the first to eclipse gigabit speeds on home-side coax networks. MoCA has become a go-to technology for multi-room DVRs and video gateways for the secure (and speedy) distribution of IP video over the home network. MaxLinear entered the MoCA market in earnest last year via the acquisition of Entropic Communications.

-Red Digital Cinema said Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be the first production to shoot on its 8K “Weapon” platform. Weapon 8K captures 8K video at 75 frames per second, 6K at 100 fps and 4K at 150 fps.

-Tata Elxsi is showing off its RDK Deployment Accelerator Suite running on Ultra HD-capable set-tops reference designs powered by chipsets from STMicroelectronics. The demo offers a fresh glimpse at boxes that run the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software platform being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global. More than 200 companies, including chipmakers, set-top vendors and pay TV operators, have licensed the RDK.

-Valtech, an independent digital technology company, is the first implementation partner to build multiscreen apps via You.i TV’s Partner Program, which is being showcased by the company here in Las Vegas at the Encore Hotel. You.i TV, which recently closed a $15 million funding round, counts customers such as Sony Crackle (for its Roku app), the TreeHouseGO app for iOS and Android, Corus Entertainment, and shomi, the multiscreen SVOD service from Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.

NeuLion, a maker of live and on-demand digital video distribution systems, said it has signed a letter of intent with the National Hockey League to provide “transitional services” and support NHL’s various digital properties, inducing NHL GameCenter Live, for the league’s 2015-2016 season.

Per this presentation detailing NeuLion’s Q3 results, the value of the deal for the 2015-2016 season is in excess of $11 million.

According to the LOI, signed on November 3, NeuLion will also render consulting services to the NHL regarding digital media and technology issues for four years, starting Oct. 1, 2016. The value of the consulting services over that four-year span is $4 million. NeuLion also noted that the LOI “is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement.”

Update: The new deal comes about three months after the NHL signed on MLB Advanced Media unit will run hockey’s digital video businesses, league and team websites and the NHL Network cable channel.

For Q3, NeuLion posted GAAP revenues of $21.9 million, up 80% from $12.2 million in the year-ago quarter.  NeuLion said Digital Platform revenue rose  17%, to $14.3 million, in Q3 2015. DivX (the video encoding/delivery specialist acquired by NeuLion in January for $62.5 million) and MainConcept revenue was $7.6 million for the period. MainConcept is NeuLion’s software development kit for HEVC/H.265, a next-gen video encoding scheme that is 50% more efficient than MPEG-4/H.264.

NeuLion also posted a consolidated Q3 net loss of $3.1 million (1 cent per diluted share), versus net income of $200,000 (0 cents per diluted share) in the year-ago period.

Of recent note, NeuLion scored a multi-year deal with the UFC that includes the powering of UFC.TV, including pay-per-view events, and a rebuild and relaunch of UFC Fight Pass, its subscription-based OTT offering.  It also renewed deals with the NFL and NBA, and powered the live and on-demand streaming of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup matches for Universal Deportes.  

"In our seasonally light third quarter we continued to deliver strong gains in both sales and profitability, and further demonstrated the earnings power of our business model," said Kanaan Jemili, NeuLion CEO, in a statement. 

NeuLion, a provider of live and on-demand digital video distribution systems, has won a new multi-year deal with UFC that includes the powering of UFC.TV, including pay-per-view events, and a rebuild and relaunch of UFC Fight Pass, its subscription-based OTT offering. 

Financial terms were not announced, but the new deal will have NeuLion hit on other parts of UFC’s video business, including “international localization,” expanded device support, customer care, and integration into the UFC Rewards system.

UFC.TV currently is offered Xbox gaming consoles, the Apple TV, iOS and Android mobile devices, with more on the way, they said. UFC.TV will also add new new payment methods for live PPV events and  UFC Fight Pass, which starts at $9.99 per month.

"Signing another multi-year agreement with UFC illustrates our commitment and ability to create, deliver and grow meaningful experiences for our customers, and furthers our 'land and expand' growth strategy,” NeuLion CEO Dr. Kanaan Jemili, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing the evolution of next-generation video experiences with our valued partner, UFC."

"We are in 180 countries and over 1 billion homes worldwide, requiring a continued focus on new and emerging technology to meet viewer demand,” added UFC president Dana White. “As a partner, NeuLion has supported the growth of our digital business from the ground up and, together, we are delivering a best-in-class digital experience to our fans worldwide."

Last month, NeuLion posted Q2 revenues of $22.7 million, up 69%, attributing growth to new customers. Revenues specifically tied to its digital platform grew 16%.

As part of a strategy to build its OTT and 4K efforts, NeuLion bought video encoding/delivering specialist DivX in January for $62.5 million.

Piksel, the supplier of multiscreen video platforms, said it, in partnership with VISTA Worldlink, won the deal to design and implement the systems running the Western Athletic Conference’s Digital Network.

The WAC’s Digital Network, which uses Piksel’s Digital Stadium platform to manage content, offers access to the WAC’s live and archived sports coverage across the conference’s eight member schools (California State University Bakersfield, Chicago State University, Grand Canyon University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, New Mexico State, Seattle University, University of Texas–Pan American, and Utah Valley). The WAC Digital Network is offered through iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, Web browsers and Roku devices.

“It has always been one of our goals to showcase the talents of our student athletes across different sports, and with the Digital Network we can now bring our fans closer to their favorite sports, beyond the physical arena,” WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd said, in a statement. “We are reaching new levels of exposure and giving fans the best possible experience with high quality broadcasting on a global scale.”

On the tech side, WAC content is distributed to VISTA Worldlink directly via IP, then ingested by the Piksel management/publishing platform. The WAC also lists NeuLion as a key tech partner.

Piksel initiated a relaunch earlier this year that included the introduction of a new modular OTT video platform for content owners, aggregators, and distributors.