As far as Zuffa goes i believe if IF they are getting an HBO contract. Zuffa will put WEC on it as away to build that brand. They may increase things on Spike. But I still see them having FIght Night on Spkie. Fight night on Spike builds their PPV's and they pretty much have a fight night a week or 2 before most of their ppv's. Zuffa is doing very well with their Spke leading into ppv. the WEC would be who i would put on HBO it will build them very quickly.
i know that dana wants to one day have a show a week, like tuesday night fights. i hope it doesn't happen. i'm more into having 1 or 2 good cards every month or so. than i am having a shitty car with 1 fight worth watching. MMA has been build now with the idea of big cards and not always big matches.
I believe the SHowtime will also do well. Other than the WFA's profile shows on SHowtime we haven't seen any MMA on premium cable channels. But knowing the format and their successes with other sports i believe it will increase the sports appeal and fan education level in a big way.
i myself have HBO but will be ordering showtime now too. I'm excited to see MMA in HD.
I still think we all could get a huge suprise and wind up with Pride on HBO. I just kinda feal it. It almost destabilizes what Zuffa is doing with WEC & UFC. But I'ld rather see Pride do well then see Zuffa build a UFC clone.
Premium Cable is probably the next big thing for the sport. We have the IFL and some Pride on Fox Sports in the states. and i know in canada you guys have the fight network (which i wish my cable company offered) and now i know up there they put mma on scores. but no company except Zuffa is doing anything to increase the sports popularity or real exposure through "free" tv deals. CAble is going to be the next big push.
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