Days after completing its merger with Skydance, Primordial has acquired American rights to TKO Group UFC for seven years, from 2026.
Paramount pays an average of $ 1.1 billion per year, totaling $ 7.7 billion, for a full slate from the UFC at 13 marquee events and 30 “combat nights”, companies said in a statement. All matches and events will be broadcast in the United States via Paramount +, and selected events will be simultaneous on CBS. Transactions payments are weighted, with essentially to pay less than $ 1.1 billion in the first years of the agreement and higher values later.
Paramount will not charge users any additional costs to access events, eliminating the remuneration model by ESPN + for certain UFC Premium events. Disney ESPN had paid an average of $ 500 million for five years of UFC rights. This agreement expired at the end of 2025.
“The payment model by view belongs to the past,” said Mark Shapiro, president and chief of the TKO group, in an interview. “What’s on à la carte payment? Boxing? Films on Directv? Is this an outdated and outdated model. So, it was essential for us – forgive the pun – where it is a one -stop shop, especially for our young fans in the overview states. When they automatically discover it is a message that we want to amplify.”
It was a few days busy for Paramount and Tko. Paramount officially sold control of the company at Skydance Media on Thursday, bringing new leaders led by CEO David Ellison. Also last week, TKO signed an agreement of $ 1.6 billion over five years with ESPN for US rights on WWE premium events. UFC and WWE merged to become TKO in 2023.
Leadership TKO initially thought that it would only sell the 30 night fighting events in Paramount and premium numbered events to another media partner, said Shapiro. When the Skydance-Paramount agreement concluded on Thursday, the two parties negotiated this agreement in 48 hours, he said.
“We have shown in the past with our ESPN agreement that we are driving [subscriptions]What is crucial for David’s strategy, “TKO CEO said on” Squawk on the Street “on CNBC on Monday.
It was important for Ellison to buy the entire UFC package given the scarcity of sports rights available in the years to come, he said in an interview. With the rights of Formula 1 probably intended for Apple and Major League Baseball pending 2028 to reorganize its main media packages, there will be no high -end sports assets for Paramount to acquire.
“The UFC is an asset with a unicorn that arrives about once a decade,” said Ellison. He described himself as a fan of the UFC.
UFC events are desirable for streamers because they take place all year round – keep the fans to pay for monthly subscriptions with less incentive to cancel in seasonally than with other sports. There are 43 live events per year, made up of 350 hours of live programming.
Paramount wishes to buy the international rights of the UFC to associate with American rights, the company said in a press release. These rights arise on a hilly base, with around a third available each year. UFC matches are currently available in more than 210 countries.
Paramount will have an exclusive 30 -day negotiation window for the rights of each country when it is renewed, said Shapiro.
“We get the brand, we get the scope and they will get the registrations,” said Shapiro on “Squawk in the street”.