False Alarm: Despite Initial Reports, No Deal Between Versus And DirecTV

After an initial report indicated a deal might finally have been struck between DirecTV, it seems that nothing has been resolved, after all. According to Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski and John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, there’s been no deal, and the two sides are exactly where we left them: “Talking,” with “Nothing imminent.”

First from Wyshynski:

- Jonathan Snowden shares the news via Cage Potato

Versus president Jamie Davis is saying that many of the things that Directv is saying about the situation is just not true.

This situation between Versus and Directv is only going to get uglier before it gets resolved. Versus is going to need Directv’s customers more than Directv needs Versus.

Versus is the primary TV partner of the NHL and the network is scheduled to show 54 games this season. So yeah, bad news for hockey fans who likely have enough problems finding games on television already.

With the August 31 deadline having passed Versus has been removed from DirecTV. The L.A. Times wrote about the reason for the dispute between the satellite giant and the sports network last week:

Obviously to MMA fans the story is the fact that WEC shows are going to become unavailable for a large percentage of viewers. The loss in eyeballs will no doubt result in a loss of cash for the promotion, but also for fighters who are given sponsorship deals based on the number of eyeballs that will be on their fights.