Paramount buys UFC rights for $ 7.7 billion and 7 years

Days after completing its merging with Skydance, Paramont The rights of the United States have gained Global Health Organization UFC for seven years, starting in 2026.

The companies said in a statement that Paramount pays an average of $ 1.1 billion annually, with a total of $ 7.7 billion, for the full UFC list of 13 events and 30 “fighting nights”. All matches and events in the United States will be broadcast via Paramount+, and events will be determined on CBS. The deals payments are weight, as Paramount pays less than $ 1.1 billion in the first years of the deal and the highest values later.

Paramount users will not charge any additional fees to access events, eliminating the payment form for each offer used by ESPN+ for some distinguished UFC events. Disney ESPN was paying an average of $ 500 million for five years of UFC rights. This deal ends at the end of 2025.

“The payment form for each offer from the past,” said Mark Shapiro, head of the TKO Operations Group, in an interview. “What is about paying for each offer anymore? Boxing? Movies on Directv? It is an old preventive model. So, it was very important for us-to the Torah of Turkey-where you stop stopping, especially for our young fans in cases of the young bridge. She wants to amplify.”

It was a few days crowded for both Paramount and TKO. Paramount officially sold the company’s control over Skydance Media on Thursday, which led to a new leadership led by CEO David Ellison. Also last week, TKO has signed a five -year deal worth $ 1.6 billion with ESPN For the rights of the United States in the excellent WWE events. UFC and WWE merged into 2023.

Shapiro said that the TKO leadership initially believed that it will only sell the events of “Night Night” only to Paramount and the numbered events of other media partner. He said that when the Skydance-Paramount deal closed on Thursday, the two sides negotiated this deal within 48 hours.

He said in an interview that Ellison buys the entire UFC package, given the scarcity of sports rights available in the coming years. With formula rights 1 It is likely to be dedicated to Apple The main baseball in the league is waiting until 2028 to reorganize the main media packages, there will be no high -end sporting assets that come to the market to gain.

“UFC is one of the assets that appear almost once after a decade,” Elison said in an interview. Ellison described himself as UFC admirer.

UFC events are desirable for signs because they occur throughout the year-which causes fans to pay for monthly subscriptions with less seasonal incentive compared to other sports. There are 43 direct event annually, consisting of 350 hours of live programming.

The company said in a statement that Paramount is interested in buying UFC international rights to conjugate with the rights of the United States. These rights arise on a trading basis, with about a third available every year. UFC matches are currently available in more than 210 countries.

Shapiru said that Paramount will have a 30 -day exclusive negotiation window for the rights of each country when it is available for renewal.