An interesting bit of news came across the wire this afternoon – the Ultimate Fighting Championship has inked a deal with Chinese satellite service Inner Mongolia Television, known as NMTV.
According to the press release, “NMTV will air up to 16 hours of UFC programming per month, including the trademark shows The Ultimate Fighter®, UFC® Unleashed™ and UFC® All Access™, with an option to air recent UFC pay-per-view event telecasts.”
Dana White had this to say, also from the press release: “Obviously China is a huge market and the Chinese understand the martial arts probably better than anyone else in the world. It’s a no brainer that UFC programming will be appreciated in China, and will become a big hit for the NMTV network.”
While this is a significant opportunity, it should be noted that the company’s territory only includes the swath of China along the south and south eastern border of Mongolia, which accounts for less than a quarter of the country’s population. No major population centers (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Chengdu, etc) receive NMTV.
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