Proelite close to deal with CBS/Showtime

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/8/8/2351537/proelite-showtime-cbs-ufc-strikeforce
Sources close to the promotion that was recently brought back from the verge of death by Stratus Media Group, who acquired a 95 percent ownership stake of the company in June, have informed CagePotato.com that ProElite is in the final stages of negotiations for a multi-year television deal with Viacom that will see its events broadcast on both Showtime and CBS starting in the first quarter of 2012.

Viacom owns 20 percent, or approximately 11,991,172 of the 59,955,862 outstanding shares of ProElite (PELE) which are currently trading at 48 cents each after sitting at a penny for the past three years since EliteXC folded. At the height of EliteXC's popularity, the ProElite's shares routinely traded at $15. A resurgence of the company aided by a deal with Viacom, would mean that for every dollar they can raise the stock purchase price by, the media conglomerate could stand to earn close to $12 million U.S.

Great news.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out on Showtime. They still have contracts with M-1(and Fedor) and SF. Add Pro-Elite(assuming they produce an entertaining product) and Showtime become a great MMA channel until the the SF contract expires or is terminated. Might be terminated since Zuffa is stripping SF down.

Fedor vs Reem on CBS in 2012. Calling it now.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Will be interesting to see how this plays out on Showtime. They still have contracts with M-1(and Fedor) and SF. Add Pro-Elite(assuming they produce an entertaining product) and Showtime become a great MMA channel until the the SF contract expires or is terminated. Might be terminated since Zuffa is stripping SF down.

Yeah it will be interesting to see just how much talent they can put together.

what's their roster consist of at the moment?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i would still take fedor in that fight

The roster will build. I'm sure they will find some quality guys.

Elites rooster is small now, but if they emerge as a viable step away from the monopoly they can attract veteran fighters and new prospects with time.

Are these the same corrupt people as before?

Maybe a couple Bellator Champs might like the chance to fight on CBS? Marquart vs Lombard anyone?

Interesting

Looks like Showtime found its SF replacement

Henderson vs Fedor did 570k viewers, pretty cool # for that network

remember when fighters used to sign to SF for the opportunity to fight on national television?

Update by Brent Brookhouse: TJ Thompson of ProElite refutes the claim on Twitter:

We have no imminent deal with Showtime/CBS. We @ProElitemma are not sure what "source" cage potato used but they were wrong.

Schucks. I was pretty stoked to hear this news.

But Stratus Media Group are no joke. They got some scrilla. They'll get a pretty nice TV deal for ProElite somewhere. Who knows, maybe they're waiting for UFC to pack their bags and move out of Spike TV. Thats a legitimate home for MMA.

As I said the Showtime slot is coveted. ProElite wants in.

And this is at least part of the reason why Fertitas want to keep SF Viable. Keep showtime under the Zuffa umbrella. They know what happens when a promotion signs with showtime, that promotions roster grows.

Dana meanwhile wants it all under the UFC name. I see a rift here.


Interesting to see if Showtime will sign with the small promotion that would need to sign talent but undoubtedly will, in time but not off the bat, or do they sign with the established although severely undercut SF?

Damn, I wanted Showtime to focus solely on boxing.

Ali wrote:

Damn, I wanted Showtime to focus solely on boxing.

mma needs a channel as well, boxing has espn, hbo and showtime...

Showtime will stick with MMA, whether it's SF or Proelite or someone else.

OU wrote:

Showtime will stick with MMA, whether it's SF or Proelite or someone else.

didn't you call ProElite teaming up with CBS?

killerofchicken wrote:

OU wrote:

Showtime will stick with MMA, whether it's SF or Proelite or someone else.

didn't you call ProElite teaming up with CBS?

I was just throwing out possibilities and I think Proelite is one of the organizations that will benefit from the situation Zuffa has created with SF.
But to be fair this rumor was shot down...for the moment.

killerofchicken wrote:

Ali wrote:

Damn, I wanted Showtime to focus solely on boxing.

mma needs a channel as well, boxing has espn, hbo and showtime...

I know, I know but Ken Hesrshman and Showtime have been doing a great job with boxing for the past couple years, with a bigger budget they'd be able to compete with HBO more.

Good new for MMA though.

Ali wrote:

killerofchicken wrote:

Ali wrote:

Damn, I wanted Showtime to focus solely on boxing.

mma needs a channel as well, boxing has espn, hbo and showtime...

I know, I know but Ken Hesrshman and Showtime have been doing a great job with boxing for the past couple years, with a bigger budget they'd be able to compete with HBO more.

Good new for MMA though.

Well for the moment the rumor was shot down. But we will see what happens.