TORONTO – After bobbing and weaving through a very successful first year, Canada’s The Fight Network looks to be a budding media empire.
The company – which launched a year ago last week – started as a category two digital channel but thanks to its original content, has branched out into mobile, on demand, radio, the web, events, clothing, energy drinks and other platforms – in Canada and the U.S.
“We’ve achieved some significant milestones in our first year of operations,” said Mike Garrow, president and CSO of the channel. “From day one our goal has been to build The Fight Network into a globally recognized media brand by being “the source” for fight sport events and theme related entertainment across all distribution platforms. I believe we are very much heading in that direction.
“The first step for us was getting the television channel up and running and we did that last September when we went live on Rogers Cable (Channel 427) and things kept rolling from there," Garrow added.
"We are now available in over 80% of all digital homes in Canada with over 32 different cable, satellite and telco services that now offer The Fight Network.” In July of this year The Fight Network was listed as the number one digital sports specialty channel in the country according to the Nielsen ratings, says the company’s press release.
“We listen to the fans and try to give them what they want to see. Combat sports have always had great interest in Canada… The reason I think our service is connecting with the fans is that we offer a lot of programming that isn’t available anywhere else.”
The first year’s success in Canada has accelerated the company’s plans to launch the channel in the U.S. “We have had several meetings with a number of cable, satellite and telcos in the U.S. about The Fight Network and the demand is there," said Garrow. "Based on how current things are proceeding I see us being available in the USA sometime next year."
Other countries have also contacted Fight Network about launching this service, such as Australia, England, and Panama, he added.
“As many places as we can get in, and in whatever form it needs to be offered in, we will try to be there,” said Garrow. “The fight game has no borders, no language barriers; it truly has a universal appeal.
“The web portal and broadband applications are very important to us,” he added, referencing www.thefightnetwork.com. “We are currently working on a new site, which we are planning to roll out in early ’07 that will expand upon existing content offerings.”
The Fight Network’s web site also offers broadband radio programming that covers the various sports as seen on the television network, while also supporting a nationally syndicated weekly radio show called Live Audio Wrestling (The LAW”).
Fight Mobile, available with Cingular, Sprint, Verizon and Telus Mobility, offers breaking news stories, editorials, photos, videos and live round-by-round event coverage for all major fight events. It’s available to over 150 million handsets in North America.
“These platforms are exploding. There is huge demand for the combat sports content we have been able to aggregate,” explained Garrow. "We are well positioned to service this growing market.”
