(Now we know how the void left by All My Children going off the air in the fall will be filled.)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the UFC is currently in negotiations with NBCUniversal to purchase a majority stake of its G4 network.
According to the report, (which quotes different sources who have claim that negotiations are in the beginning and midway points and others who say that the story is just smoke, but no fire as the UFC is talking with several networks to get an idea of what options are available), the deal would provide the promotion with a new home for its programming when its current deals with Versus and Spike TV conclude at the end of this year. Apparently Spike has made initial high monetary contract demands of the UFC to renew a deal with the specialty channel whose growth can be attributed in large part due to runaway success of The Ultimate Fighter.
G4′s asking price and the percentage of ownership the UFC is looking for are not yet known.
Viewership of G4 has been steadily declining for some time, which could mean that the UFC could get a deal on the struggling property that Direct TV recently dropped from its channel offerings due to low ratings.
Well it looks like we aren’t going to be mentioned on Attack of the Show any more…
We’ll post updates on the situation as we get them.