Jeremy Clarkson and Zayn Malik eat your heart out! BAMMA is back on terrestrial TV, inking a deal with new boys Spike TV.
Viacom’s launch of Spike TV in the United Kingdom; replacing VIVA on April 15, will become the new home for BAMMA, after the promotion signed a major long-term broadcasting deal which will see them live on Spike TV UK as well as produced content for Channel 5.
Channel 5 and its sister channels were bought by US media giants Viacom for £450m in May, 2014, and many expected Spike TV; through the actual brand or programming to make the move to the UK sooner rather than later.
BAMMA 20 will be the first event which will be given the VIP treatment from Spike TV, live from the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham on Saturday, April 25, which is headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between Brett McDermott vs. Marcin ‘Bane’ Lazarz.
In the United States, Spike TV have invested heavily into turning their channel into a premier name for combat sports. The home of Bellator MMA, Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and GLORY kickboxing; which will hopefully follow suit to Spike UK.
Spike TV representative Marie-Claire Dunlop said: “For the launch of Spike in the UK, we are delighted to have BAMMA on board as part of our ‘Fight Night’ sports offering. Featuring the very best of British and going out live on Saturday nights, Spike will be the UK’s exclusive home of this must see entertainment.”
BAMMA CEO David Green described Spike TV as a powerhouse in the sport of MMA, referring to their ground breaking relations with the UFC, which helped the sport sky rocket to success with The Ultimate Fighter and continually so through Bellator MMA. He went on to state that it will put BAMMA in an unrivalled position at the front of domestic TV for MMA in the UK.
This means following BAMMA 19, the UK MMA number one will no longer be streamed on Facebook. Also, the recent announcement that BAMMA pay-per-views will be available in Europe via ESPN Player; starting at €7.99 per event, meaning the British association will hold a strong grasp over the European market in terms of audience reach.
Announced at the Spike TV launch party, Bellator MMA will join also join Spike TV, however it will still be shown on tape delay; much to the dismay of many mixed martial arts fans. But that’s a whole different topic for a later date.
This broadcast deal can be regarded as a monumental moment for UKMMA. BAMMA’s former relationship with ‘old guard’ Channel 5, although initially aesthetically successful, with live shows on the terrestrial channel and sister channel Five Star, wasn’t without perils.
Poor fight choices shown on Five, events cancelled and just all round road blocks which stopped BAMMA from putting on regular events.
However it is rumoured that the partnership with Spike TV will be much more fruitful, with potential extra programming being lined up, which will be a long awaited welcome, the last of which was seen in the build up BAMMA 4: Watson vs. Reid in 2010 on Bravo.
The room for success is there, the UK’s biggest ever event in BAMMA 4, drew 865,000 in viewership, an unrivalled number in terms of UKMMA.
BAMMA have jumped homes a lot over the past five years, from Bravo to SyFy, Channel 5 to Five Star, then to the purgatory of Facebook, but now it seems that they have a home that is willing to invest both time and promotion to help them grow as Europe’s top promotion.
Although more importantly, to finally give MMA in Britain the coverage; and nudge towards the mainstream which the sport has long cried out for.
Today’s Morning Glory was brought to you with the support of Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy With It.
