All MMA Channel
July 25, 2010
Today I posted an article on the idea of paying a monthly fee for an MMA tv channel. Dana White is threatening once again to go after Justintv and Ustream for their live feeds, I'm getting so tired of this. Dana needs to create a channel with HBO, charge people a small monthly fee, and broadcast all the UFC events. This is the subject of the story today:
An alternative to 50 dollar UFC Pay Per Views.
Recently the UFC has been in the headlines pursuing piracy on the Internet.
They're currently pressuring Justin TV and Ustream websites for the names and IP numbers of those members who've illegily broadcast UFC PPV events on those websites.
UFC president Dana White was quoted as saying "this is one fight we will not lose"
With all due respect Mr White, you've picked a fight you can't possibly win, but more importantly, a fight you need not engage in.
The UFC has a business model in place that says, watch the fight with your friends or at an establishment that charges a cover of normally 5-10 bucks. Whether you watch it with 10 friends or head out to a bar, the model is the avg person pays around 5-7 dollars on avg per event.
Now consider the millions of UFC fans who either do not have 10 friends to party with, or would rather not watch the fights with a screaming crowd, it's just a preference many fans share.
50 dollars is a ridiculous price for those folks watching alone or with a single friend or spouse, and those same people who probably have at least one subscription based channel or package of channels, will now steal or pass the UFC event entirely, in either case the UFC receives zero from an army of fans, who would be more then willing to pay 10-15 bucks a month for a dedicated UFC channel that carries all PPV events.
Trying to jail your fans is barbaric and extremely ineffective, finding the right price point for your product would mean additional revenue, not less.
Average people can always rationalize an extra 10-15 bucks a month for something they enjoy as much as the UFC, asking those same folks to spend 50 dollars in today's economy turns loyal fans away or in to Internet thieves.
If you can get a million people to pay 50 bucks, you can easily get 5 million to pay 10 dollars each month. Television reception is much better then pirated internet connections, it's not close to the same experience, UFC fans would be happy to pay a monthly fee, that large chunk of change you now request, is becoming too much for more and more fans these days.
HBO has over 40 million subscribers, the UFC could easily attract an 1/8 of that audience, probably more, 10 bucks a month is 120 hard earned dollars a year, money UFC fans would be happy to pay, but ask these hurting people to pay 50 bucks for each event, and you end up in court suing fans instead of promoting a great product.
An alternative to 50 dollar UFC Pay Per Views.
Recently the UFC has been in the headlines pursuing piracy on the Internet.
They're currently pressuring Justin TV and Ustream websites for the names and IP numbers of those members who've illegily broadcast UFC PPV events on those websites.
UFC president Dana White was quoted as saying "this is one fight we will not lose"
With all due respect Mr White, you've picked a fight you can't possibly win, but more importantly, a fight you need not engage in.
The UFC has a business model in place that says, watch the fight with your friends or at an establishment that charges a cover of normally 5-10 bucks. Whether you watch it with 10 friends or head out to a bar, the model is the avg person pays around 5-7 dollars on avg per event.
Now consider the millions of UFC fans who either do not have 10 friends to party with, or would rather not watch the fights with a screaming crowd, it's just a preference many fans share.
50 dollars is a ridiculous price for those folks watching alone or with a single friend or spouse, and those same people who probably have at least one subscription based channel or package of channels, will now steal or pass the UFC event entirely, in either case the UFC receives zero from an army of fans, who would be more then willing to pay 10-15 bucks a month for a dedicated UFC channel that carries all PPV events.
Trying to jail your fans is barbaric and extremely ineffective, finding the right price point for your product would mean additional revenue, not less.
Average people can always rationalize an extra 10-15 bucks a month for something they enjoy as much as the UFC, asking those same folks to spend 50 dollars in today's economy turns loyal fans away or in to Internet thieves.
If you can get a million people to pay 50 bucks, you can easily get 5 million to pay 10 dollars each month. Television reception is much better then pirated internet connections, it's not close to the same experience, UFC fans would be happy to pay a monthly fee, that large chunk of change you now request, is becoming too much for more and more fans these days.
HBO has over 40 million subscribers, the UFC could easily attract an 1/8 of that audience, probably more, 10 bucks a month is 120 hard earned dollars a year, money UFC fans would be happy to pay, but ask these hurting people to pay 50 bucks for each event, and you end up in court suing fans instead of promoting a great product.
Posted by Ed Menize
