(“…and how much for you to convince Olivia Munn to come back?”)
According to a report by Bloomberg, several analysts are pegging the prospective UFC-G4 deal between $360 and $600 million US, depending on how much of the company Zuffa wants to buy.
Both David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co and David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets peg the value of the deal as high as $600 million if the UFC purchases the network outright. Insiders say that the promotion is looking to purchase at least a 60% controlling interest in the struggling network, which would cost them an equal percentage of the purchase cost.
How the value is determined for a channel is a formula that multiplies the amount of homes the network reaches by a value-per-home figure depending on ratings. Joyce said that figure likely sits between $5 and $10 for the Comcast-owned station that reaches an estimated 60 million homes. More popular channels like Spike TV, whose agreement with the UFC ends late this year, could fetch as much as $20 per household. There are rumors that the UFC are asking Spike for $325 million for them to re-sign with the network they helped put on the map, but it’s unlikely they’ll cough up such a large sum, so they have set the wheels in motion to bring Bellator over from their sister station, MTV2 to fill the void.
NBC Universal spokeswoman Amelia Stewart and UFC PR rep Caren Bell both refused to comment on the prospective deal.