Earlier this year, the UFC and WWE launched their versions of a digital fight network and library. These models emulated the same blueprint that Netflix has been implementing for years. Now, Bellator MMA isn’t far behind and with the sports television landscape changing, they have plans for something similar.
“The reality is — that [WWE chairman and CEO] Vince McMahon has done [the WWE Network] very well,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney told Sportsnet. “I’m not sure if the UFC has done as good of a job [with Fight Pass]. Vince is an anomaly; [he] does things and spends years developing them. He’s been able to make a crossover.”
In 2011, media juggernaut Viacom purchased Bellator, giving the promotion financial stability and a wealth of resources. This aided in the promotion jumping from a smaller audience on MTV 2 to Spike TV, the former home of the UFC. This also added in crossover programming between Bellator and a variety of other Spike properties including Impact Wrestling. Rebney emphasized that all the networks under the Viacom umbrella are reliant on their own cross-network relationships.
“We as an organization are never going to turn our backs on those affiliates [by taking] our best content and [putting them on] an online platform that doesn’t involve the affiliates,” Rebney said. “Too much of the overall business is reliant upon those relationships staying very strong, so we will be there with the affiliates.”
In other words, Bellator doesn’t want to go the route of the Fight Pass, which is exclusively owned and operated by the UFC. Rebney wants to maintain a strong relationship with Viacom, while also giving fans access to their content.
“[The UFC’s] thought process is to take those affiliate relationships away and go to Fight Pass,” Rebney said. “Then the UFC can keep 100 percent of every dollar as opposed to giving 50 percent of it to the affiliates. We’re not going to do that; we will be with the affiliates.”
Spike TV already has a relationship with Hulu, a similar platform to Netflix, which is available only in the United States. Currently they have on-demand episodes of Bellator’s short-lived reality series Fight Master, but no archived fight content.
“We’re working on it in terms of things like [Hulu]. Like Fight Master, great fights from the past, tournaments and full seasons,” Rebney explained. “There will be a time in the not-so-distant future when you’re talking about premium combat sports in the MMA arena where Bellator will be with Time Warner and COX On DEMAND and Verizon.”
Don’t expect to see any live events on an exclusive online digital platform, though.
“What won’t happen is the movement of live Bellator events and or premium events onto a platform that is completely controlled by us that has no engagement with the affiliates,” Rebney said. “But the old stuff, we’re working on packages right now [so] you’ll be able to see a fight like [Joe Soto vs Joe Warren] with that crazy comeback and the flying knee.”
While Bellator hasn’t confirmed anything for the immediate future, Rebney offered his thoughts on the landscape of future sports pay-per-view events. He believes McMahon and the WWE Network will set the standard for combat sports.
“What you’ll ultimately see is that Vince will take the WWE out of the classic PPV model and you’ll be able to get it on the WWE Network,” Rebney surmised. “[But] not anytime soon, because they’re not anywhere near being ready to do it.”
