Late last night, Sergio Non of USA Today broke that news that media conglomerate giant Viacom had purchased a majority stake in Bellator Fighting Championships.

Viacom, parent of MTV Networks, bought a majority stake in Bellator Fighting Championships and will start airing the promotion’s bouts on Spike in 2013, the companies told USA TODAY this week. They’ve had ongoing talks for about a year as they finished up various deals, and over the past month finally reached the point where they could announce the news, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said.
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Selling to Viacom’s entertainment conglomerate guarantees a stable future for Bellator, said Rebney, who will remain in charge of Bellator.
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“It puts all of those cornerstones of ownership in place for us,” he said. “Which is something that’s been so seriously lacking in the MMA space with so many different companies, including Strikeforce and the IFL and Affliction and all the different failures that have occurred.
… It alleviates those issues.”
SPIKE TV PRESS RELEASE:
Viacom has purchased a majority stake in Bellator Fighting Championships, USA Today reported Wednesday morning. The promotion’s fights will begin airing on Spike in 2013.
The buy, said Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, provides a foundation for the promotion’s future.
“It puts all of those cornerstones of ownership in place for us”, Rebney told USA Today. He will stay onboard to head the fight promotion.
“We’ll have a platform to promote the brand that reaches 99 million fans.” said Rebney to Newsday. “The benefit of what we’ve done in terms of this partnership is going to be reflected in who we’re able to sign, and where we’re able to sign them from and what we’re able to provide the fighters.”
Spike carries rights to air the UFC library through 2012. For the time being, Spike will supplement MTV2′s current Bellator programming with highlight shows and related content, online and on TV. Additionally, Spike.com will continue to stream preliminary card fights.
Spike network president Kevin Kay was bullish on the purchase. “(We) started to have conversations with MTV2 about getting invested in a mixed martial arts promotion and become owners as opposed to renters,” Kay said to USA Today. “You’re building value in something that you own, and you own it for the long term. You’re not in a constant state of negotiation.”
Bellator currently fields such talent as Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez, Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard, Welterweight Champion Ben Askren, Jay Hieron and Alexis Vila.
Payout Perspective:
Here are some notes and observations from the story:
- Bellator is now the #2 promotion in Mixed Martial Arts behind the UFC.
- Although Spike’s agreement ends this year with the UFC, they stil lhave rights to the UFC library in 2012, which will prevent Bellator from airing on Spike TV until 2013.
- Spike TV started talking about possibly investing in Bellator with MTV2 and Viacom’s mergers and acquisition group when TV negotiations fell through with the UFC.
- Having a strong #2 promotion may be a good thing for the UFC, as they have been dealing with an FTC investigation for the majority of the year.
- Bjorn Rebney: Viacom is the majority shareholder of BellatorMMA now… Rebney will stay on as CEO.
- Bjorn Rebney: BellatorMMA will keep their tournament format through 2012 and 2013 on Spike.
- Spike will supplement MTV2′s current Bellator programming with highlight shows and related content, online and on TV. Additionally, Spike.com will continue to stream preliminary fights.
