Viacom has purchased a controlling share in Bellator Fighting Championships and is planning on bringing the promotion to Spike TV in 2013.
This according to USAToday.com, who broke the news early Wednesday morning.
Viacom, the parent network of MTV and Spike TV, wanted to stay in the mixed martial arts business after losing the Ultimate Fighting Championship to FOX, but instead of “renting” a promotion they wanted to own one.
And now they do.
Spike TV president Kevin Kay spoke about the purchase.
“As we realized that our relationship with UFC was likely to come to an end, our Viacom mergers and acquisitions folks, and us, started to have conversations with MTV2 about getting invested in a mixed martial arts promotion and become owners as opposed to renters,” Kay said. “You’re building value in something that you own, and you own it for the long term. You’re not in a constant state of negotiation.”
“The tournament format (is), we think, a great way to get the audience invested in the fighters as personalities, as characters,” Kay said. “I think we can help, with the expertise we have in building fighters as fighters that people want to see and come back week to week.”
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney will stay on board as the head of the promotion, who felt that the promotion will finally have a stable “ownership” base, something that was “seriously lacking” with many different promotions.
A deal to get Bellator on Spike for 2012 was out of the question as the broadcast network still owns the library rights to the UFC through 2012. Fans can expect a lot of counter-programming from Spike on nights featuring live UFC events on FOX.
Be sure to check out the entire article and read Bellator light weight champ Eddie Alvarez’ comments on the deal.
“They’ll have a ton of more money to negotiate with,” said Alvarez, who has three to four fights left on his current contract. “As long as I keep doing well and do what I’m supposed to do, the future looks bright.”