TORONTO – TSN, RDS and Fight Network have inked a new multi-year agreement with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for the Canadian media rights to its global events.
TSN and RDS will offer UFC’s major live events, preliminary fights of UFC Pay-Per-View events, UFC Fight Night events, and The Ultimate Fighter series, while Fight Network will broadcast all UFC Fight Night events from around the world as well as preliminary bouts for domestic non-Pay-Per-View cards, reads the announcement.
The three broadcasters will also team up on an original live pre-fight program before Pay-Per-View events, plus share the sales and marketing of UFC broadcasts in Canada.
“UFC is a marquee international property with a loyal and engaged Canadian fan base”, said Shawn Redmond, TSN’s VP of programming and marketing, in the news release. “UFC content and support programming will be a tremendous addition to our slate of championship events. We are also looking forward to working with Fight Network to showcase original UFC content across our suite of five feeds.”
“We are thrilled to be entering into this prestigious multimedia partnership with UFC and Bell Media’s TSN and RDS, and we look forward to working with our colleagues to grow the UFC’s already significant fan base in Canada as well as helping to build the sport of mixed martial arts at the grassroots level,” added Fight Network CEO Leonard Asper.
As the premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization and largest pay-per-view event provider in the world, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually. UFC programming is broadcast in 129 countries and territories to nearly 800 million TV households worldwide in 28 different languages.
