UFC TV Contract: 5 Reasons Spike TV Needs UFC More Than UFC Needs Spike

The clock is ticking on the UFC’s relationship with its longtime broadcast partner, Spike TV.

For several years now, Spike has aired key UFC programming including UFC Fight Night, seminal reality show The Ultimate Fighter, best-of program UFC Unleashed, prefight hypemaking shows like UFC Countdown and UFC Primetime and, most recently, preliminary cards for major events.

As is often the case, much of UFC parent company Zuffa’s activities in this arena are playing out largely behind a curtain. But there have been fairly reliable reports that the two companies are in the final year of their contract together, and that the UFC has the wandering eye,actively negotiating with lots of networks for a new deal.

In fact, Zuffa was reportedly exploring the possibility of buying a controlling interest in the G4 network, which is currently owned by NBC Universal.  Such a purchase, according to industry analysts quoted by Bloomberg, could run an estimated $600 million.
 
In the meantime, reports out of Spike TV seem to indicate that network execs have given up on retaining the UFC, referring to season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter as the program’s last and attending Bellator events in a possible signal that they are already looking for a replacement for the UFC. Bellator currently airs on MTV2, which is owned by Viacom, the same company that owns Spike TV.
 
There is no firm way to tell when or how this will all play out. But in the meantime, the UFC, like a growing hermit crab, seems to be abandoning its current TV home in search of bigger and better digs.

This is, in my mind, a real blow for Spike. 

Here are five reasons why a split between these two would leave Spike on the losing end.

5. Ratings, ratings, ratings

Simple as that.

According to TV.com, The Ultimate Fighter is Spike’s third highest-rated show.
 
Ratings may have been waning lately, but the long-running show still pulled in between 1.2 million and 1.5 million viewers in its 13^th season, which was often good enough for first or second place for basic cable shows in that time slot.

4. A Wide Breadth of Programming Options

Cable networks like Spike don’t really have the capacity to produce new and/or original content in great quantities. Thus, they often rely on programming they can recycle for maximum bang for the buck.

Why do you think Spike bought the rights to the Star Wars franchise? You plug it in whenever you want, and you know people are going to watch it. Easy money.

The UFC provides that for Spike. Shows like The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Unleashed give Spike a lot of value because they can be played and replayed with no cost outside of the initial production costs, which for those shows are probably fairly minimal. You’re not going to get nearly as much, if any, mileage out of Bellator or pro wrestling retreads.

But the opposite is also true. Spike can’t live on reruns and old movies alone, and does draw a lot of viewers from the live programming the UFC generates. That's something the Something About Marys of the world cannot do.

So the UFC kind of provides the best of both worlds for Spike.

3. A Demographic Match Made in Heaven

Spike was invented to attract the 18-34-year-old males that advertisers covet. How many units of Bud Light and Axe Body Spray do you think get moved as a result of the commercials that air on Spike during UFC programming? 

Actually, I don’t even want to know. But it’s a lot.

The UFC will carry that attraction wherever it goes. Spike will find it harder to replace on a 1:1 basis. In other words, MMA fans (which are largely if not entirely younger men at this point) will follow the UFC wherever it goes. It is probably less likely that they will blindly follow Spike TV.

2. A Tarnished Sports Brand

To the extent that Spike wants to be known as a home for sports programming and edginess and edgy sports programming, there are few more attractive and realistic tenants than the fast-growing UFC.

The two partners had a chance to grow together. But now the UFC seems to feel it has outgrown Spike.

As such, Spike is losing the cornerstone of its sports schedule (a distant second is probably pro wrestling, so yeah...bit of a dropoff there). For a network who caters largely to younger men and wants viewers to "get more action," it stands to reason that a healthy slate of sports programming is something that is desirable.

But on the other hand, something tells me the UFC will have no problem at all serving as a cornerstone, or at least an important cog, at one of Spike's rival networks.

1. There Is Simply No Replacement for the UFC

When Spike TV first landed the UFC, then sat back and watched as the popularity of MMA exploded, they must have felt like the shrewd stockbroker who uncovered a diamond in the rough right before the share prices went through the roof.

They probably don’t have that feeling anymore.

In a way, Spike is a victim of that success. And the UFC is clearly and unequivocally at the head of that MMA movement. It’s at the middle and the tail, too. Maybe it’s not a monopoly in the strictest sense of the word, but like it or not, the UFC now dominates the landscape the same way the NFL dominates football.

I don’t think you can say the same for Spike. Last I checked, there were quite a few channels on today’s television menu, more than a few of which would provide an enthusiastic and suitable home for the UFC.

In a nutshell, when you’re talking about television channels that do or could carry MMA, Spike is replaceable. When you’re talking MMA itself, the UFC is most decidedly not.