#Spike tv shows pro

#Spike tv shows pro

You’re not going to get nearly as much, if any, mileage out of Bellator or pro wrestling retreads.īut the opposite is also true. Shows like The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Unleashed give Spike a lot of value because they can be played and replayed with no cost outside of the initial production costs, which for those shows are probably fairly minimal. Why do you think Spike bought the rights to the Star Wars franchise? You plug it in whenever you want, and you know people are going to watch it. Thus, they often rely on programming they can recycle for maximum bang for the buck. Here are five reasons why a split between these two would leave Spike on the losing end.Ĭable networks like Spike don’t really have the capacity to produce new and/or original content in great quantities. This is, in my mind, a real blow for Spike. But in the meantime, the UFC, like a growing hermit crab, seems to be abandoning its current TV home in search of bigger and better digs. There is no firm way to tell when or how this will all play out. Bellator currently airs on MTV2, which is owned by Viacom, the same company that owns Spike TV. In the meantime, reports out of Spike TV seem to indicate that network execs have given up on retaining the UFC, referring to season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter as the program’s last and attending Bellator events in a possible signal that they are already looking for a replacement for the UFC. Such a purchase, according to industry analysts quoted by Bloomberg, could run an estimated $600 million. In fact, Zuffa was reportedly exploring the possibility of buying a controlling interest in the G4 network, which is currently owned by NBC Universal. But there have been fairly reliable reports that the two companies are in the final year of their contract together, and that the UFC has the wandering eye, actively negotiating with lots of networks for a new deal. The clock is ticking on the UFC’s relationship with its longtime broadcast partner, Spike TV.įor several years now, Spike has aired key UFC programming including UFC Fight Night, seminal reality show The Ultimate Fighter, best-of program UFC Unleashed, prefight hypemaking shows like UFC Countdown and UFC Primetime and, most recently, preliminary cards for major events.Īs is often the case, much of UFC parent company Zuffa’s activities in this arena are playing out largely behind a curtain.