MMA fans in the big fight up north won’t be happy about being left out of the benefits of UFC’s new Paramount deal, according to one of the sport’s more experienced media personalities. This was recently expressed by James Lynch on his YouTube channel. While the Canadian fighting compatriot went into some details about why MMA fans in Canada will be unhappy with this new media rights deal set to kick off in the coming weeks, Lynch said:
“As we are still a few weeks away from the first UFC event on Paramount for UFC 324 on January 24, we are going to see a lot of outraged Canadians in the coming weeks as they realize that the Paramount deal only affects US customers and not Canada. Because in Canada, of course, we have exclusive rights with Sportsnet when they signed their deal in 2024.”
“So even though we have Paramount here in Canada, you’re still going to have to pay for major UFC events. And a lot of Canadians are angry about this. And I just noticed on Reddit today that there’s a petition here – only 124 signatures so far. It says, ‘Stop Canada’s UFC tax, demand fair streaming for UFC fans in Canada.’ I think people are slowly realizing this.”
Lynch provided an overview of his anecdotal experiences in the TV industry and the machinations of certain media rights deals, while referencing a fan’s comment:
“I didn’t know that Canadian fans would be specifically excluded from the new era, while fans in the United States, Brazil, Australia and all of Latin America are now enjoying every UFC event included in their standard subscription. Canadians have been left behind, trapped in the exact same expensive, outdated pay-per-view system as the rest of the world. So there are two sides to this that I somewhat understand. The first side is deal, deal.”
“The UFC made this deal in 2024 and we didn’t know what the future of the UFC would look like. I think a lot of people when this deal was signed probably thought pay-per-views would be around forever, but the UFC decided to change that when they signed with Paramount. As a result, Canadians who watch the event will still be charged $79.99.”
“Sportsnet isn’t just going to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to change the terms of our deal so we get less money.’ I’m sure that was part of it. Part of the deal was that you had to go through them to buy their pay-per-views, and they got more money. So I’m sure that’s part of it. So I understand Sportsnet’s perspective on this. But at the same time, you’re going to see more of this in the coming weeks, while I think there are still a lot of Canadians who don’t realize that you’re going to have to pay for the pay-per-views.”
Canadian MMA and how the main deal can inform their consumption of the UFC product
Lynch explained why this dynamic will lead to Canadian MMA fans illegally watching UFC:
“You’re going to encourage people to pirate events, and this was a thing before the UFC went to Paramount. We saw that there were a lot of people… I know even people who are watching this video now, a lot of them aren’t paying to watch the pay-per-views. They’re finding links. I know Dana White shut down one of the biggest free streaming apps out there.
Summarizing this issue, Lynch joked:
“This is something you will notice more because there are a lot of Canadians UFC fans buying pay-per-views, watching the events, and this is going to be hard… $80 a month, compared to $6.99 for Americans. That’s going to be a really hard sell for a lot of UFC fans here. At the very least, I like Sportsnet to come out and say, “Hey, listen. This is how long the deal lasts. Sorry, we know you’re frustrated.’ For example, just have some empathy for the fans who are paying customers of your product.
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