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On Saturday Bellator Fighting Championships will kicked off their fourth season with Bellator 35. The card will be broadcast on MTV2 from the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.
Unlike last season, fans will not have to hope that a Minnesota Wild game ends early so they can see the card. When Bellator announced their deal with FOX Sports Net for seasons two and three, I knew it was going to be trouble. First, I try to avoid any News Corp. property on principle. Second, FSN is mostly a regional network. Their target audience would rather watch replays on Kansas City Royals games instead of quality MMA.
Now that the promotion has moved to MTV2, fans will no longer have to stay up until 1 a.m. to watch their cards. However, this television deal presents some issues of its own. The move to Saturday is a bit worrisome. Bellator had developed quite a little groove as being the only Thursday night game in town. Now, their weekly cards will have to compete with the MMA big dogs, the UFC and Strikeforce.
More importantly, most of the products on MTV2 are light years away from Bellator. Many have pointed to the success of “Bully Beatdown†as a sign that the audience is ready for serious MMA action. However, Jason Miller‘s pet project more closely resembles other the episodic shows that are on the network.
MTV2 pushes shows likes “Pimp my Ride,†“Disaster Date†and “Viva La Bam†because they are simple and anyone channel surfing can jump right into them. They are shown all the time, and are not appointment television. Since Bellator is live, it will need an audience to know when the show is on and plan to watch it. That is not MTV2
On Saturday Bellator Fighting Championships will kicked off their fourth season with Bellator 35. The card will be broadcast on MTV2 from the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.
Unlike last season, fans will not have to hope that a Minnesota Wild game ends early so they can see the card. When Bellator announced their deal with FOX Sports Net for seasons two and three, I knew it was going to be trouble. First, I try to avoid any News Corp. property on principle. Second, FSN is mostly a regional network. Their target audience would rather watch replays on Kansas City Royals games instead of quality MMA.
Now that the promotion has moved to MTV2, fans will no longer have to stay up until 1 a.m. to watch their cards. However, this television deal presents some issues of its own. The move to Saturday is a bit worrisome. Bellator had developed quite a little groove as being the only Thursday night game in town. Now, their weekly cards will have to compete with the MMA big dogs, the UFC and Strikeforce.
More importantly, most of the products on MTV2 are light years away from Bellator. Many have pointed to the success of “Bully Beatdown†as a sign that the audience is ready for serious MMA action. However, Jason Miller‘s pet project more closely resembles other the episodic shows that are on the network.
MTV2 pushes shows likes “Pimp my Ride,†“Disaster Date†and “Viva La Bam†because they are simple and anyone channel surfing can jump right into them. They are shown all the time, and are not appointment television. Since Bellator is live, it will need an audience to know when the show is on and plan to watch it. That is not MTV2