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UFC Goes HD

Feb 1, 2007  •  Post A Comment

The Ultimate Fighting Championship organization will offer all of its pay-per-view events in HD starting this Saturday with the “UFC 67” special.
UFC President Dana White said fans have been clamoring for fights to be shown in the format.
“We get e-mails every day from fans going, ‘Why aren’t you in HD?’ and now we’re finally here,” Mr. White said.
Sports franchises have been early and enthusiastic adaptors of HD, yet UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment have lagged behind in offering the format due to their distribution contracts with cable networks and pay per view outlets that lack HD channels.
In addition to its PPV distribution, UFC also distributes fights and a reality series to SpikeTV, which has yet to announce plans for an HD channel. Mr. White said the UFC has actually shot fights in HD since 2002 to build up a library of content in the format.
“We’ve been shooting everything in HD,” he said. “Just about everybody is on board now. That’s why we’re ready to make the move. We’ve been waiting for the rest of the world to be ready.”
UFC’s HD fights will be distributed on iNDemand, DirecTV, DISH Network and Bell ExpressVu. The HD versions will cost more than the standard-def broadcasts. The SD suggested retail price is $39.95, while the HD price is $49.95.
The WWE has recently experimented with shooting fights in HD, but has yet to announce plans to distribute in the format. USA Network, which airs “WWE Raw,” does plan to launch a high-def channel this fall as part of DirecTV’s HD push, but has yet to commit to including an HD version of WWE in the launch.
This article is part of TVWeek.com’s High Definition newsletter, a weekly source of breaking HD news, articles and interviews written by Senior Reporter James Hibberd.

5 Comments

  1. Why would you charge more for HD. People all ready have to pay extra for the HD service. You should keep the prices the same as they are. I feel like i am getting double screwed on deals like this. I have seen most of the PPVs and will not get another if you charge more for HD when you then turn around and show the fights free on Spike.

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