Amazon Prime Video is the new streaming home for ONE Championship events.
Distribution agreement between Amazon Prime Video and ONE Championship
Combat sports promoter ONE Championship, which hosts live events spanning martial arts disciplines including mixed martial arts, Muay Thai and kickboxing, recently signed a five-year distribution deal with Amazon Prime Video in the United States and Canada. As part of the deal, Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream at least 12 prime-time ONE Championship events each year.
When will the first ONE Championship events air on Amazon Prime Video?
According to Bloomberg, ONE Championship will launch its first fights on Amazon Prime Video this summer, with plans to sign more North American-based fighters and begin hosting live events in the United States in 2023.
ONE Championship is currently based in Singapore, so expanding its operations to the United States, where rival promoter UFC is headquartered, is a big step forward. Disney’s ESPN is halfway through its five-year, $150 million TV deal with the UFC.
“We’re going to give the UFC a real run for the money,” ONE Championship General Manager Chatri Sityodtong said in an interview. “The ESPN-UFC combo is very powerful. I think the combination of Amazon-One is just as powerful.
Sityodtong added that Amazon Prime Video is the “right partner” for ONE Championship to expand its operations and grow its audience in the United States, following the expiration of its three-year deal with Warner Bros.’ Turner. Discovery Inc. last year.
“We are proud to add exclusive coverage of ONE Championship events to our suite of premier live sports offerings,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of Global Sports Video at Amazon, in a press release. In addition to offering a full range of martial arts disciplines, ONE Championship shares our mutual commitment to uplifting female athletes, with five reigning world champions.
Other live sports content on Amazon Prime Video
ONE Championship events will join a number of existing live sports content on Amazon Prime Video such as football and tennis. But the streamer’s most popular live sports content so far is the NFL Thursday Night Footballwhose games will transfer from Fox Corporation’s flagship network this coming season as Amazon begins a decade-long exclusive rights deal.
Although Donoghue declined to say if the streamer was in talks with other sports organizations, she said she will “continue to look to bring more sports” to her service, “as well as become more of a sports destination. “.
“We’re definitely interested in increasing the volume, but we’re pretty selective,” Donoghue added. “We are really looking for high level sports.”
Sources: Bloomberg, A championship
