NEW YORK, NY , March 22, 2006 - Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization have agreed to a new, two-year extension of their strategic partnership, it was announced jointly today by Doug Herzog, President, Spike TV and Dana White, President, Zuffa, LLC d/b/a Ultimate Fighting Championship®. The deal positions Spike TV as the exclusive cable home of one of the fastest growing brands in sports, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, through 2008. The deal was brokered by the Endeavor Agency.
The main components of the deal are four new seasons of the hit reality series, The Ultimate Fighter™, ten Ultimate Fight Night Live fight cards, and 26 episodes of UFC Unleashed.
"We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the hottest brand in sports, The UFC,” said Herzog. "The deal is a testament to the incredible passion and foresight that Dana White brings to the sport of mixed martial arts."
"In Spike TV, we have found a television partner that understands and embraces our sport that is on the verge of overtaking boxing as the #1 combat sport in America," noted White.
In 2005, 95.7 million viewers saw at least 1 minute of UFC programming on Spike TV (The Ultimate Fighter/UFC Unleashed/Ultimate Knockouts/UFC Fight Previews/Ultimate Fight Nights/UFC All Access), which translates to 34.4% of the U.S. population or 1 in 3 Americans.*
The new Spike TV deal includes the following:
• Seasons 5 through 7 of the highly successful reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. (5 and 6 will run in 2007 and season 7 will run in 2008).
• Ten live fight cards, Ultimate Fight Night Live, hosted by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg, featuring many of the biggest names in the sport. Four will be in '07 and four in '08. The deal also includes two more live fights this year.
• 26 one-hour episodes of UFC Unleashed, hosted by Mike Goldberg, featuring the greatest fights in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, many of them never seen before on basic cable. The series features the biggest names in the sport including Chuck Liddell], [[Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Ken Shamrock, Rich Franklin, Tank Abbott, Andrei Arlovski, Royce Gracie and Tito Ortiz. Spike TV will run 13 in 2007 and 13 in 2008.
Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off Thursday, April 6 at 10:00pm ET/PT with UFC legends and bitter rivals Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz serving as coaches. Season 4 will premiere later this year.
Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Films and Television, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White of Zuffa, LLC, and Kevin Kay of Spike TV are the show's executive producers. Brian J. Diamond is Vice President, Sports & Specials, Spike TV and Co-Executive Producer. Peter V. Symuleski serves as Executive in Charge of Production for Spike TV.
Source: www.ufc.tv
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