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Report: UFC not to air on WOWOW in May

By Zach Arnold | April 20, 2007

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Gryphon picked up on a hot lead, and I decided to go ahead and do a quick translation (paraphasing some of what was said) of the post he alluded to.

WOWOW/UFC broadcast abandonment?

The UFC broadcast of WOWOW might be discontinued.

Such a rumor has spread to the street. Though April’s broadcast is scheduled, broadcasting is not scheduled for the UFC 71 show on May 26th. It is anxious. I decided to call the WOWOW customer center. The operator said in no uncertain terms that negotiations for broadcasting rights are not settled and broadcasting may be abandoned in May. The answer of sadness. For the response by telephone, in addition it is necessary to take confirmation. Apparently, the rumors seems to be true.

Personally, I wanted to see Mirko on the WOWOW channel on SkyPerfecTV. The broadcasting cancellation is full damage. The HD TV broadcasting begins in April and Takanori Gomi is appointed as guest commentator for the UFC 70 show.

The reasons for broadcasting abandonment is “broadcasting rights.” UFC has Mirko, Rampage, Fabricio (Werdum), plus Nogueira and other well-known fighters in Japan are coming one after another. The price for UFC broadcasting rights in this present situation naturally soars. UFC is sure to also have taken an aggressive attitude over pricing. The negotiation might not have been settled between UFC and WOWOW.

(Then there is discussion about where UFC could move their TV show next, perhaps to Nippon TV).

Japanese MMA enters the age of misfortune.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “Report: UFC not to air on WOWOW in May”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Pro Wresting in Japan is already on its last leg. Is there a chance that MMA could be the next victim in Japan? Only time will tell. It is obvious that K-1 does not put a lot of emphasis on MMA, as their cards are near pointless to any hardcore fan outside of Japan.

  2. ilostmydog says:

    I don’t know. Dana talks about how he is going to get a huge TV deal for Pride and now the UFC loses it’s only deal in Japan? Doesn’t exactly make me feel confident about him following through on these boasts.

  3. white ninja says:

    with ntv still embroiled in a lawsuits around inoki bom ba ye – where kawamata is still talking about dses yakuza – it is highly unikely that ntv has any interest for mma at the moment

    what is more likely is that UFC will move from wowow (which pays zuffa a fixed broadcast fee) to skyperfect PPV (like PRIDE) – with zuffa thinking that they can expand their successful US ppv model into japan

    problem is Japanese PPV is a very small market (not many japanese households have cable) and dse never made any significant money from this

  4. Zach Arnold says:

    Those are going to be some horrible buyrates on SkyPerfecTV PPV if UFC moves their shows over there. At best 15,000-20,000 buys. At best.

  5. ukiro says:

    Wouldn’t it be more logical to assume that they might be securing a better deal with another channel, rather than thinking that they will now vanish frmo the airwaves in Japan? I think the pessimistic conclusions are uncalled for at this point.

  6. Yeah, you have to assume if the deal is ending because WOWOW can’t afford the UFC, then the logical conclusion is that there are other channels out there willing to pay that much in the waiting.

  7. […] Mirko Cro Cop. WOWOW stated that UFC asked for a significant increase in fees to air the shows, so the network didn’t renew their deal. Now UFC is trying to get in with WOWOW, which was not a significant TV deal in the first […]

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