Eleven Sports may close in the UK and Ireland after only four months.
According to The Guardian, the sports streaming service is aiming to renegotiate rights deals after the UFC triggered an exit clause on its exclusive deal, as Eleven Sports was unable to secure distribution via pay-TV platforms including Sky, Virgin Media and BT.
Eleven Sports is now seeking a cheaper rate to continue to operate as a smaller, commercially viable operation in the UK.
As newspaper says the UFC is understood to be in talks with the previous rights holder BT about a new broadcast deal.
“Without carriage agreements with the existing platforms, alongside the challenges posed by rampant piracy, the current market dynamics in the UK and Ireland are very hostile for new entrants,” said a spokesman for Eleven Sports.
“We are in discussion with our rights partners, La Liga and IMG, about how we can restructure our existing agreements in order to continue our current OTT service.”
