Spike to air Bellator pre lims online

Ariel Helwani

Quote :

Spike announces that Spike.com will air Bellator prelims beginning Sept. 10. And so it begins. Or has it already begun?

oh snap!

Man, I bet a ton of people will be tuning into that!

OKKK... the fact that Bellator finally has a place to show their prelims excites me

I am glad is making the effort to stay in the MMA game. I was hoping to see them do something with SF when Showtimes contract was up...

god u guys are dumb with this sf thing

killerofchicken wrote:

god u guys are dumb with this sf thing

+1

So I guess the prelim-internet thing is due to the fact that the channel cannot air non-ufc fights on TV until the contract runs out?

bobbitt15 wrote:

Man, I bet a ton of people will be tuning into that!

Wel Ill agree that Bellator's prelims have not been stocked with talent in the past. But does this new development spur Bellator to bring more interesting fights to the prelims?

And of coarse the most important thing in this story is not the headline, but instead what can be read between the lines.

Free fights, no complaining.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/25140/sources-bellator-moving-from-mtv2-to-spike-tv-its-not-if-but-when.mma
Bellator Fighting Championships' move from MTV2 to the higher-profile Spike TV is a foregone conclusion.

That's how a couple of industry executives recently characterized the situation to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

As one source put it: "It's going to happen. It's not 'if' but 'when.' Throw 'if' out the window. The only question is if it's next year or the year after."

When the UFC recently announced a groundbreaking seven-year deal with FOX and FX, it essentially marked the end of live UFC broadcasts on Spike TV. A planned "UFC Prelims" special on Dec. 30 will be the final live UFC fights on the cable station, which has been the UFC's primary television partner since 2005.

Now, as many have speculated, could the UFC's departure open the door for Bellator?

The organization began airing events on Spike TV's sister property, MTV2, earlier this year following previous deals with ESPN Deportes and FOX Sports Net. Bellator CEO and chairman Bjorn Rebney long has contended (publicly anyway) that he's perfectly happy with his current MTV2 home, where the organization's three "Summer Series" events averaged 242,000 viewers.

"At this stage, the only group that we're working with that is actually putting fights on with Bellator is MTV2, and they've been doing an amazing job," Rebney recently told MMAjunkie.com.

However, Spike TV is far more visible and in 100 million homes (compared to MTV2's 80 million). Additionally, with Spike TV's marketing muscle (which has helped promote 14 seasons of "The Ultimate Fighter" and dozens of live events) and an upgrade to a high-definition channel, Bellator could easily grow its audience exponentially. After all, even the lowest-rated UFC-Spike TV events score between 1.5 million and two million viewers.

Viacom, which owns both MTV2 and Spike TV, certainly could facilitate a move. And there's clearly interest in doing so since Viacom and Spike TV want to remain in the MMA business.

"Everyone wants Bellator to come to Spike TV," one source in the company said. "We're all in this together.

"But it all comes down to the UFC library. That's it."

Future decided by library rights

Ah yes, the UFC library.

While Spike TV no longer will air live UFC events after this year, its existing contract allows it to air the UFC library (including past events, former "TUF" seasons, "UFC Unleashed" episodes and specialty programming) in 2012. However, as long as Spike TV has the rights to the content, it can't air programming – including live events – from other organizations, such as Bellator, until 2013.

However, the UFC could purchase and reclaim the library if it can reach a deal with Spike TV.

"If they made a decent offer, we'd probably sell," one Viacom source said.

The library then could be shifted to the FOX-owned FX cable station, which will play a significant role with the UFC's 2012 broadcasting schedule. Those plans include new seasons of "The Ultimate Fighter," and each of a scheduled 26 episodes concludes with a live fight. Coupled with six annual UFC Fight Night-type events, FX is expected to air live UFC fights a total of 32 times in 2012 alone. And that doesn't include the four annual events the FOX network will air.

But if Spike TV retains the library rights in 2012, FOX and FX face a potentially major problem.

Counter-programming threat looms

"I don't think FOX truly understands what having the library means," one Viacom source said. "That means we could put (old seasons of) 'TUF' against (new seasons of) 'TUF.' We could be airing fights, replays of fights, all kinds of stuff when they're airing live fights."

What kind of impact such counter-programming could produce is debatable. However, back in June, Spike TV scored 793,000 viewers for a special that contained old Nate Marquardt fights. Versus' live-event broadcast (which was supposed to feature Marquardt) drew just 744,000 viewers.

"The last thing you want is confusion in the marketplace," the source said. "You have to spend a lot of money to let people know where you're airing. People are creatures of habit. They don't read stuff for the most part. They only know the channel it's on, and a lot of people don't know (about the UFC's move to FX)."

So basically, the UFC finds itself in a precarious position next year: It can allow Spike TV to retain the library and possibly face counter-programming from its own content. Or UFC officials can try to work out a deal to acquire the library – which would lead one of its biggest competitors to a TV deal with its former home.

So is eliminating the the threat of counter-programming worth a scenario in which Bellator could move to the higher-profile Spike TV in 2012?

"That's the billion-dollar question," the source said. "And it's answered by people richer than you and I."

Library for sf deal. Sf on Spike by April?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Library for sf deal. Sf on Spike by April?

What? Explain to me how that makes sense? Zuffa buys the UFC library so they can in return put SF on SPIKE? SPIKE wants Bellator, clearly.

and their getting Belator... clearly lol

http://mmajunkie.com/news/25134/fans-invited-to-fridays-bellator-49-weigh-ins.mma
The official weigh-in ceremony for this weekend's Bellator 49 event is free and open to the public.

The festivities take place this Friday, Sept. 9, at the Palladium Ballroom at Caesars Atlantic City in New Jersey. The first fighter hits the scale at 5 p.m. ET, and MMAjunkie.com will carry a live video stream of the proceedings.

The same property also hosts the following day's MTV2-televised Bellator 49 event.

Bellator 49 features the four opening-round bouts of Bellator's season-five welterweight tournament. The four fights include Dan Hornbuckle (22-4 MMA, 3-2 BFC) vs. Luis Santos (49-6-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Chris Cisneros (11-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Ben Saunders (10-3-2 MMA, 1-0 BFC), Chris Lozano (8-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) vs. Brent Weedman (18-6-1 MMA, 4-1 BFC) and Steve Carl (14-2 MMA, 2-1 BFC) vs. Douglas Lima (18-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC).

Additionally, the night's five-bout preliminary card will be streamed on Spike.com, a first for Bellator.

The full Bellator 49 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (MTV2)

Dan Hornbuckle vs. Luis Santos (welterweight-tourney opening round)
Chris Cisneros vs. Ben Saunders (welterweight-tourney opening round)
Chris Lozano vs. Brent Weedman (welterweight-tourney opening round)
Steve Carl vs. Douglas Lima (welterweight-tourney opening round)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)

Joel Roberts vs. Brylan Van Artsdalen
Giedrius Karavackas vs. LeVon Maynard
Alexandre "Popo" Bezerra vs. Scott Heckman
Lester Caslow vs. James "Binky" Jones
Azunna Anyanwu vs. J.A. Dudley

Spike will get SF in a deal that also involves the UFC getting their own library back. They are using Bellator as a negotiating tool. So it is wolf written.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Spike will get SF in a deal that also involves the UFC getting their own library back. They are using Bellator as a negotiating tool. So it is wolf written.

Wanna bet? I'll give you the odds. If SF ends up on SPIKE you own my sig for 1 month. If Bellator ends up on SPIKE I own your sig for 1 week.

Yeeeah I didn't think so lol, Bellator to SPIKE. It's going to happen.

Ok. But in order for bellator to move to Spike the UFC has to buy the rights back...would they do that and turn over the station? The UFC? No way. Spike needs fresh MMA now. SF needs home. Writings on the wall.

Spikes not gonna go a year without fresh mma dude. Ufc holds all the cards.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ok. But in order for bellator to move to Spike the UFC has to buy the rights back...would they do that and turn over the station? The UFC? No way. Spike needs fresh MMA now. SF needs home. Writings on the wall.

Then take the bet. If you really beleive that, which I don't think you do.

I said ok dumbdick. Lol. A Bellator deal never happens. Its possible in a year n a half but Sf will be there already.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

I said ok dumbdick. Lol. A Bellator deal never happens. Its possible in a year n a half but Sf will be there already.

SF will not have a single event on SPIKE. When you lose you must take it like a man Wolf. You must have the picture and text I select. No adding of text. Just take it like a man.