News Paramount buys UFC rights. PPV model is dead

[Tapatio]

Alright so does that mean we get the big ufc 3xxx events for free if we subscribe to shitty Paramount? Or we have to subscribe to shitty Paramount and have to pay extra to watch those big events?

 

[HockeyBjj]

Alright so does that mean we get the big ufc 3xxx events for free if we subscribe to shitty Paramount? Or we have to subscribe to shitty Paramount and have to pay extra to watch those big events?

Sounds more like those will be free on CBS regardless for either over the air or if you have some form of cable

And then also available on Paramount plus for the same monthly subscription price

 

[Ibm]

The richest media company owns the UFC. At their level they could probably print money.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

I can't wait to see how this new system screws the fighters.

we're all waiting for that, well except the boot lickers.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

All gone. Just hot dog branders.

And reebok full kits for double champs.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Fighters about to get a 5% pay bump.

While Dana ups his gambling from 50k per hand to 100k.

 

[ChrisBenoit]

I imagine rest of the cards this year will be dog shit. Small price to pay

 

[AmonTobin]

Star Trek commercials instead of the Burger King jingle!

 

[Deadwing88]

Fighters about to get a 5% pay bump.

While Dana ups his gambling from 50k per hand to 100k.

 

[CC27]

Great news for fans. Everything in one place, no more PPV, no more ESPN+. UFC got their billion a year they wanted.

Its not Netflix which I think would have made this an A+ deal but its certainly an A deal for sure.

 

[CC27]

Will this put the UFC on CBS and what about the champions who get PPV bonus?

they just said PPV sales are down so not even hitting the mark for PPV points to even kick in. And are people really gonna pretend they give a shit? Oh what about PPV points for fighters and you're watching on streameast.

 

[rjmbrd]

The richest media company owns the UFC. At their level they could probably print money.

Paramount isn't is a rounding error to the most valuable media companies by market cap. The reason Paramount/Skydance can afford this deal, the new owner is son of Larry Ellison, one of the richest people on earth.

Just FYI

• Alphabet (Google) – ~$2.3 trillion
• Apple (media via Apple TV+, Music, etc.) – ~$2.9 trillion (Note: not primarily a media company but significant media presence)
• Amazon (owns Prime Video, MGM) – ~$1.7 trillion (same caveat as Apple)
• Disney – ~$180 billion
• Netflix – ~$170 billion
• Comcast – ~$150 billion
• Meta Platforms (media via Facebook, Instagram, etc.) – ~$1.3 trillion (primarily social media)
• Warner Bros. Discovery – ~$30 billion
• Fox Corporation – ~$14 billion
• Paramount Global – ~$8 billion

 

[Legumes]

I'm gonna sign up for the free trail and watch UFC319 for free

If you have an amazon prime account, you can effectively get two free trials. Straight through paramount+, then sign up for the trial via amazon.

 

[Alpha_T83]

I think this will benefit fighter pay overall. It's going to create more transparency with UFC income, viewership, and fighter income.

It's going to screw over the fighters headlining cards though. All of the existing contracts with headline-level fighters are based on PPV points + base salary. Now there will be no more PPV points. So everyone at the top immediately starts making less. This will necessitate either 1) contracts to be re-made for the new model, or 2) the UFC will have to offer some per-view bonus for CBS/paramount+ viewer numbers (i.e. $2 per view, so if you draw 5 million views on paramount+, you get $10 million).

This actually would make sense, because there will still be unskippable ads embedded within the stream (between fights, etc.). That means the UFC/CBS could be sharing substantial ad revenue still, if the UFC viewership numbers get big enough.

 

[Poirierfan]

Of course it's Chandler that's wearing a Paramount t-shirt already. The ultimate bootlicker, it's kinda admirable how committed he is.

 

[fzoid4454]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/paramount-buys-ufc-rights-skydance-merger.html

Wow, I can stop stealing the PPVs? Cool.

 

[BowserJr]

The ESPN deal goes till the end of the year by most reports so Jan 2026

Thank you

 

[JustforBROCK]

Will be interesting to see how this goes. By ppv model they mean Paramount will just stream them for anyone subscribed to Paramount plus .... I assume. If that's the case this could be good for fans in terms of accessability. If they can stream better than ESPN did I can see this working.

 

[TCE]

I clicked it thinking it's a video of him, scrolled down to the comments. Fucking shocking racism.

Fuck the human race.

 

[Captain Tenneal]

Fuck the human race.

Fuc u reptile