According to a Tweet from New York Times reporter Brian Stelter, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is looking to acquire the NBC Universal-owned G4 gaming network television network. A Wall Street Journal report states there are conflicting accounts with respect to how far along in negotiations the two parties are at this time. There is no financial figure at this time with respect to what the transaction would cost.
UFC Looking To Acquire G4 Channel, Spike TV Parternship Fracturing
G4 is currently in 59 million homes. Spike TV is in 99 million. However, G4 was dropped by carrier DirecTV due to what the satellite cable provider stated was flagging ratings. The UFC would like want or even require a renewed presence on the cable distributor as part of the deal.
As for the UFC’s current Viacom-based television partner Spike TV, AOL’s Mike Chiappetta believes Spike TV represenatives are preparing for the UFC’s departure as an inevitability:
Several Spike employees are openly referring to the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter as “the last season,” and as MMA Fighting reported recently, Spike executives have been on site at recent Bellator events, familiarizing themselves with the promotion. According to a source, it’s likely that Bellator will return to weekday events, possibly on Thursdays, so as not to directly compete with UFC. Bellator’s current broadcast deal is with MTV2, which like Spike, is owned by the media conglomerate Viacom.
The network offers 1080i high definition programming. More on this story as it develops.
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