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Paramount buys UFC rights for $7.7 billion, ending PPV events

<p>Paramount just acquired the US rights to UFC for seven years in a deal worth $7.7 billion dollars, <a data-i13n="cpos:1;pos:1" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/paramount-buys-ufc-rights-seven-years-rcna224261">according to reporting by NBC News[/url]. This contract <a data-i13n="cpos:2;pos:1" href="https://www.ufc.com/news/paramount-and-tko-announce-historic-ufc-media-rights-agreement">begins in 2026[/url] and covers the organization's full slate of 13 marquee bouts and 30 Fight Night events per year. All matches and events will stream in the US on Paramount+ and select fights will simulcast on CBS.</p>
<p>This ends the pay-per-view (PPV) model that ESPN+ has favored for premium UFC events. &quot;What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model,&quot; said Mark Shapiro, president of UFC's parent company TKO Group. Matches take place throughout the year, which isn't true of other sports. This should keep the UFC's massive fanbase tethered to that Paramount+ subscription.</p>
<span id="end-legacy-contents"></span><p>This happened just a few days after <a data-i13n="cpos:3;pos:1" href="https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/fcc-approves-skydances-8-billion-paramount-acquisition-032028104.html">Skydance Media officially acquired Paramount[/url] and its subsidiaries for $8 billion. It's fairly wild that Skydance paid $8 billion to own Paramount and its various IPs in perpetuity and $7.7 billion to air UFC fights in one country for seven years.</p>
<p>“UFC is a unicorn asset that comes up about once a decade,” said TKO Group CEO David Ellison. Paramount is also interested in purchasing the international rights to air UFC matches and it's being given an exclusive negotiation window with each country to do just that.</p>
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