The UFC and DirecTV are at an impasse.
On Thursday, the UFC announced that the upcoming UFC 234 pay-per-view from Australia will not be available on DirecTV after the two sides failed to come to an agreement on a new contract.
While this is a common occurrence in television negotiations, the UFC and DirecTV are obviously at odds and at least one pay-per-view card will be sacrificed as a result.
“UFC’s live events are some of the most-watched pay-per-views in the country and remain must-see viewing for all MMA fans. Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement with one of our primary distributors, DirecTV,” UFC officials said in a statement released this week.
“Though we continue to work to reach a resolution, UFC 234, LIVE from Melbourne on Saturday, February 9, will not be available on DirecTV. To ensure that fans don’t miss a minute of action, DirecTV subscribers should consider other viewing options, including UFC.TV, ESPN.com, Amazon Prime, Sony PlayStation, Xbox, local cable providers, and Dish Network.”
Attention DirecTV customers! #UFC234, live from Melbourne, will not be available on DirecTV, but you don’t have to miss a minute of the action-packed main event. @DanaWhite explains how to watch ➡️ https://t.co/4Jfnd9O25M pic.twitter.com/XFRcbZhiAt
— UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2019
Prior to these contract negotiations, UFC president Dana White had just recently talked about the increase in pay-per-view revenue that the organization was able to negotiate with providers.
White said last November that he had worked with pay-per-view providers to change the typical 50-50 split on revenue to ‘closer to 30-percent’ going to the cable outlets and satellite company.
It’s unknown if perhaps that demand is what ultimately drove a wedge between the UFC and DirecTV but for now the two sides remain at odds with no word on when a new contract will be negotiated.
UFC 234 will move forward with the pay-per-view options available per the promotion’s statement but will not be available on DirecTV this weekend.
