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

Paramount just acquired the US rights to UFC for seven years in a deal worth $7.7 billion dollars, according to reporting by NBC News. This contract begins in 2026 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.

This ends the pay-per-view (PPV) model that ESPN+ has favored for premium UFC events. "What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model," said Mark Shapiro, president of UFC's parent company TKO Group.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.

This happened just a few days after Skydance Media officially acquired Paramount 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.

“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.

It's been reported that Paramount likely placated Trump in several ways to ensure the FCC approved the acquisition. The company coughed up $16 million to settle a "frivolous and dangerous" lawsuit with Trump after 60 Minutes interviewed Kamala Harris and cut an answer for time, which is something televised interviews have always done. Paramount will allocate that money to Trump's future presidential library and did not provide a "statement of apology or regret."

CBS, which is owned by Paramount, also canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which was seen by many as a move to pacify Trump. The president denies this, saying the cancellation was due to a "pure lack of talent."

Paramount has promised to end all US-based Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and to hire a bias monitor for CBS News to make sure that conservative voices aren't drowned out by the constant drumbeat of reality. Trump has also publicly stated that CBS will be giving him $20 million worth of airtime for public service announcements consistent with his ideological beliefs.

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