Jolldan Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 BT is understood to have lost the rights to broadcast NBA basketball and UFC ultimate fighting after walking away from a bidding contest. "We won't bid any more than the rights are worth to us," a spokesperson for the telecoms giant told the BBC. The move comes weeks after BT lost the rights to Italian Serie A football. The firm spends around £1bn a year on sports rights, such as Premier League and Champions League football, a sum which some investors have criticised. BT's sports channels will continue to show NBA Basketball until the end of October and UFC until 3 December. The loss means BT's sport channels will show fewer popular sports, but the firm's spokesperson said it was focusing on gaining more subscribers for its offering as well as "investing in more broadcast innovations." They said the firm had "long-term deals in place for our core content" including "great football, rugby and boxing next season". Marc Allera, head of BT Consumer, told the Financial Times that the strategy for BT Sport - which launched five years ago - had moved on from its initial "emotionally driven start-up mentality". "It's like a big football club in the transfer window. If a striker is worth £50m I won't pay £70m for him. At the wrong price, everything is expendable," he said. So what becomes of UFC coverage in western Europe? There are two glaring options. First is that Sky Sports finally pick up the UFC coverage that has passed through Bravo TV (rest in peace), ESPN UK, and now BT Sport. The closest that Sky have come to doing so though is showing episodes of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series, defunct British promotions like Cage Rage, and going all in on Conor McGregor’s boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather last year. The fear is that like WWE and sometimes boxing, Sky would plump for a pay-per-view system – a non-starter given that fans are already paying for a subscription to watch at ungodly hours of the morning. The second option is via Eleven Sports. Owned by the Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani, Eleven Sports has been hoovering up sports rights since its arrival on the UK scene. They got La Liga rights from Sky Sports, and poached Serie A coverage from BT just last week. Where the confusion comes in is in how they broadcast it. Though they are said to be launching two channels, their coverage of the PGA Championship golf tournament in August will be shown on their website, which will offer a week’s free trial. Some quick clarity on the situation will be much welcomed, especially if Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return takes place in December. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezerker101 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 heard that on a pod last week, that's where I watch ufc ... I guess it's all ESPN 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcmax3000 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Dave Meltzer (and possibly others, but he's where I saw it) reported last week that they were very close to a deal with Eleven Sports for the rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Not happy about this at all, also if Sky try make UFC PPV then will leak money, no one over here will pay for the UFC's PPV's. Not a chance in hell. Also if BT were not making money from the UFC then Sky 100% will not bid. This could spell the end of my UFC viewing because I will in my **** pay more than I currently am to view the UFC with the state it is currently in 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Dave Meltzer (and possibly others, but he's where I saw it) reported last week that they were very close to a deal with Eleven Sports for the rights. Maybe that question is answered? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcmax3000 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Also if BT were not making money from the UFC then Sky 100% will not bid. It might not be that they weren't making money from the UFC... I might be that somebody else (in this case, it seems like Eleven Sports) offered the UFC more money than BT was willing to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 It might not be that they weren't making money from the UFC... I might be that somebody else (in this case, it seems like Eleven Sports) offered the UFC more money than BT was willing to pay. I have no idea what price or how to view Eleven sports yet, even they don't..... season starts in like 2 weeks and they have no idea what they are doing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba_Sparks Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Not happy about this at all, also if Sky try make UFC PPV then will leak money, no one over here will pay for the UFC's PPV's. Not a chance in hell. Also if BT were not making money from the UFC then Sky 100% will not bid. This could spell the end of my UFC viewing because I will in my **** pay more than I currently am to view the UFC with the state it is currently in If sky get it and don't charge though it will save me a penny. Now that BT have lost half the football I probably wouldn't bother with it if they lost ufc as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 If sky get it and don't charge though it will save me a penny. Now that BT have lost half the football I probably wouldn't bother with it if they lost ufc as well. Yeah BT Literally have 1 Prem game and the European games which are free on local TV here anyway, its useless now. Sky will save me a good amount too but I really doubt they will get it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Polo_Hermano Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Does this mean you foreigners are going to have to illegally stream PPVs to get them free again? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Does this mean you foreigners are going to have to illegally stream PPVs to get them free again? Yeah but unlike you amateurs we will just IPTV it so we don't get poor quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Polo_Hermano Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Yeah but unlike you amateurs we will just IPTV it so we don't get poor quality There are HD streams everywhere these days. lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_Take_Roids_m8 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 My strams are 1440p. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba_Sparks Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 My strams are 1440p. And that's when you're camping. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_Take_Roids_m8 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 And that's when you're camping. I didnt have internet service when I was camping. I had one bar of 4G on my tablet and none on my phone. Couldn't even stram pern 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-idyb- Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 (edited) damn. looks like you wankers across the pond will be watching alot more womens softball RIP BT Sport Edited July 30, 2018 by -idyb- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Polo_Hermano Posted July 31, 2018 Report Share Posted July 31, 2018 BT Sport is trash anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 BT Sport is trash anyway. 100% true, apart from the UFC the only other thing I watch on it is the single Premier League game a week and some European football such as Europa League and Champions League which is mostly free to air on our local tv anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MauroPedrosa Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 Eleven Sports just came to Portugal and "stole" Champions League and La Liga rights from Sporttv. I don't really look forward to spending more money on sports Maybe I'll cancel Netflix since I barely use it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 Time to bumb this again I guess, UFC just confirmed Eleven Sports will have all UFC rights by January, Eleven Sports have been hugely unclear stating that all 49 UFC events will be theirs but been very unclear about if PPV events will have an additional charge. They have came out and said they are "Looking" into giving the rights to show it to other companys which to me screams "SKY SPORTS BOX OFFICE" If Eleven Sports attempts to charge for UFC PPV events over here then I can guarantee you the UFC will have a record number of views from non legal sources, no one over here pays PPV, ever, literally my entire life I have bought 2 PPV's May v Mac and Joshua v Klitschko and even then I went halfs with my brother. And to the American folk who will come back with "Sure we always pay PPV" that may be true, but the fact is we never have, and we are not simply going to start now for some ****ty streaming service without any form of an actual TV Channel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 Eleven SportsVerified account @ElevenSports_UK 3h3 hours ago More Although a small amount of fights may be made available via other platforms at extra cost, we still feel our competitive price point makes this excellent value for fans when spread out over the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashfl0w Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 I said I wasn't paying for Bellator and then I signed up for their stupid app because I want to see the fights this weekend in 1080p and not 360p. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 I said I wasn't paying for Bellator and then I signed up for their stupid app because I want to see the fights this weekend in 1080p and not 360p. Difference is the time zones man, we have to stay up to 3am just for the start of these events, no one in their right mind will also do that while paying for PPV or a streaming service to watch it. They have no TV Channel so we cannot even record or pause and rewind these events anymore, UFC about to lose ALOT of money with their UK and Ireland Market 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashfl0w Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 They feel like they made it with the ESPN deal they signed over here. It's all about money grubbing at this point. Doesn't matter if you have access to the product as long as the money is going into the accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fobar Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 screw cable and all those companies. cheap, reliable IPTV is the future. haven't paid these scumbag corporations a penny for a few years now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 They feel like they made it with the ESPN deal they signed over here. It's all about money grubbing at this point. Doesn't matter if you have access to the product as long as the money is going into the accounts. I am not sure how they deal with PPV's with out it being charge as PPV here, as in with BT maybe BT just paid UFC a set amount regardless of viewership, but with PPV's over here they will bleed money, I know absolutely no one who will actually pay for a UFC PPV here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolldan Posted September 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 I am not sure how they deal with PPV's with out it being charge as PPV here, as in with BT maybe BT just paid UFC a set amount regardless of viewership, but with PPV's over here they will bleed money, I know absolutely no one who will actually pay for a UFC PPV here Exactly the PPV model just really isn't as big a thing in the UK can't speak for the rest of Europe so viewership is bout to go off a cliff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSW Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 Hopefully this means we can watch more on fight pass. Always pisses me off when i cant watch something because its blacked out in my region because of bt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 Hopefully this means we can watch more on fight pass. Always pisses me off when i cant watch something because its blacked out in my region because of bt. Fight pass is done is it not? They were moving that **** to DAZN or what ever its called Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fobar Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 you guys need to get a decent android box and join the revolution CutTheCord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehilton94 Posted September 27, 2018 Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 you guys need to get a decent android box and join the revolution CutTheCord It will be my next step, already have an IPTV, use it on PC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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