News UFC Fight Pass Sold

[David Street]

Endeavor Streaming, Which Powers UFC Fight Pass, Sold to European Provider Deltatre

European streaming media provider Deltatre clinched a deal to acquire Endeavor Streaming, which powers UFC Fight Pass and more.

variety.com

 

[drphil]

Ok i read the article and it was a whole lot of nothing.
Can someone translate what this changes if anything please?

 

[Alpha_T83]

I guess this is potentially screwing over the TKO shareholders if revenue from the UFC is going directly to Endeavor and bypassing them?

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

I guess this is potentially screwing over the TKO shareholders if revenue from the UFC is going directly to Endeavor and bypassing them?

 

[Luthien]

Fight Pass turned into Slap Pass

@PaddyO'malley

 

[Slapjit]

Fight Pass turned into Slap Pass

@PaddyO'malley

 

[rjmbrd]

I guess this is potentially screwing over the TKO shareholders if revenue from the UFC is going directly to Endeavor and bypassing them?

Keep in mind Endeavor streaming is an international technology vendor delivering 25,000 events annually. WME / Ari on their wild acquisition spree in the last decade vacuumed up a bunch of technology companies including NeuLion. Endeavor Streaming wasn't ever a UFC property, more like a parent company subsidiary that was also a vendor.

With Ari being ousted from Endeavor (and Silverlake even renaming the company he founded) this makes a lot of sense to be divested. It wouldn't shock me if there is a big shakeup with TKO in general, especially if the next rights deal doesn't print.

 

[Pittie Petey]

They should just put their whole library on Youtube for free like the WWE is now doing with their WWE Vault & WCW Vault Youtube channels, which are frickin amazing, by the way

UFC Vault looms...

 

[gosuasus]

Keep the fight library. That's the best thing since YouTube.

 

[drphil]

They should just put their whole library on Youtube for free like the WWE is now doing with their WWE Vault & WCW Vault Youtube channels, which are frickin amazing, by the way

UFC Vault looms...

This is precisely what i was hoping for but given the ufcs track record of unending greed i won't hold my breath.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Keep in mind Endeavor streaming is an international technology vendor delivering 25,000 events annually. WME / Ari on their wild acquisition spree in the last decade vacuumed up a bunch of technology companies including NeuLion. Endeavor Streaming wasn't ever a UFC property, more like a parent company subsidiary that was also a vendor.

With Ari being ousted from Endeavor (and Silverlake even renaming the company he founded) this makes a lot of sense to be divested. It wouldn't shock me if there is a big shakeup with TKO in general, especially if the next rights deal doesn't print.

Yea it's layers of an onion. Endeavor owns TKO which owns UFC property. So as you said, it's a parent company.

I'm not saying they're doing anything illegal. I'm sure whatever they do, there's enough of a grey zone that they'll get away with it.

 

[Afrikan]

UFC Fight Pass has good streaming quality. Damn shame if these leading streaming tech services are coming as one. Less competition, less jobs, and quality isn't guaranteed to improve (if they decide to cut corners to save money, since less competition).

 

[rjmbrd]

Yea it's layers of an onion. Endeavor owns TKO which owns UFC property. So as you said, it's a parent company.

No, you're misunderstanding, let me explain it better:

Endeavor Streaming and its predecessors were never owned by any iteration of the UFC. The UFC contracted NeuLion as their vendor to deliver streaming. Endeavor bought NeuLion a decade ago, and re-branded it.

So the company/vendor that provides streaming services to the UFC is no longer owned by Endeavor.

The UFC still owns the brand "Fight Pass" and all its content. A company they never owned or had anything to do with that was contracted to provide their streaming services, has been sold.

I'm not saying they're doing anything illegal. I'm sure whatever they do, there's enough of a grey zone that they'll get away with it.

It is completely unrelated to the UFC, its a vendor they never owned etc. They still own Fight Pass and the respective media rights. They will contract with another streaming provider, or the new owner of their existing streaming provider.

 

[Captain Herb]

Fight Pass turned into Slap Pass

@PaddyO'malley

SlapP ass league. I'll invest in that

 

[Bubzeh]

Dark days are coming.

 

[Alpha_T83]

No, you're misunderstanding, let me explain it better:

Endeavor Streaming and its predecessors were never owned by any iteration of the UFC. The UFC contracted NeuLion as their vendor to deliver streaming. Endeavor bought NeuLion a decade ago, and re-branded it.

So the company/vendor that provides streaming services to the UFC is no longer owned by Endeavor.

The UFC still owns the brand "Fight Pass" and all its content. A company they never owned or had anything to do with that was contracted to provide their streaming services, has been sold.




It is completely unrelated to the UFC, its a vendor they never owned etc. They still own Fight Pass and the respective media rights. They will contract with another streaming provider, or the new owner of their existing streaming provider.

Interesting. The way the article described "comprehensive range of streaming experiences" made me believe that the UFC library was being sold too. But if they just sold the streaming infrastructure and the UFC will just find a new streaming provider, then that makes sense.

I wonder, is this a sign of a deal for TKO product streaming with Netflix or Amazon? Or is Endeavor being stripped for parts?

 

[rjmbrd]

they just sold the streaming infrastructure and the UFC will just find a new streaming provider, then that makes sense.

Correct. NeuLion was a streaming company based out of NYC that provided streaming delivery for hundreds of clients, the UFC was one of their clients. Endeavor bought them over a decade ago and renamed NeuLion "Endeavor Streaming." They have now sold that business unit.

I wonder, is this a sign of a deal for TKO product streaming with Netflix or Amazon?

Again, TKO is just one of hundreds of clients Endeavor Streaming was vending to. It would not matter.

Or is Endeavor being stripped for parts?

Ari founded Endeavor and merged/bought other talent agencies to make it a giant in the industry. He then took big gambles with buying the UFC and many other properties and companies. Some of these plays worked out, some didn't. Their IPO didn't pop and the stock stagnated.

This resulted in Ari losing the CEO position of the company he founded (read: Silver Lake squeezed him out with a big paycheck) which is a huge transition in the entertainment industry. Silver Lake even rebranded the company back to WME.

Now that Silver Lake took Endeavor private, they are divesting properties/assets where they don't see long term upside and getting back to core business.

My speculation is Silver Lake will continue to stuff sports related assets into TKO (which they've already done consolidating PBR and IMG) and maintain its majority ownership. If anything, I see Silver Lake adding more sports assets into TKO.

re: Netflix or Amazon deal, its hard to say. Amazon has a PPV model an infrastructure and likely very happy to have that partnership. Netflix will not do a PPV model and it doesn't fit in with the general Netflix brass mantra of having special one-off events. It'll be interesting to see.

My personal bet is multiple rights go to multiple properties, e.g. PPV goes to Prime and Fight Nights are on YouTube and ESPN.