Bellator Lands on Fox Sports Network
Posted by Dave Walsh on October 20th, 2009
Finally, Bellator has not only an English language home, but one that is willing to air their shows live on prime time. Fox Sports Net has stepped up to the plate to air live Bellator action, with NBC airing taped highlights early Sunday mornings. If you saw last season, you know that this is awesome, if you missed last season, you missed out.
The upstart MMA promotion Bellator Fighting Championships has announced that it will be back in 2010, with shows airing live on Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net. Taped highlight packages will air in the wee hours of Sunday mornings on NBC, and Bellator has also reached an agreement with Telemundo for Spanish-language distribution.
“Since our launch earlier this year, there has been an overwhelming demand from MMA fans nationwide for us to broadcast our events live and through a widely available platform,” Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have signed this groundbreaking agreement with FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo, which will bring our unique and exciting brand of tournament-based MMA events to a dramatically expanded audience of both English- and Spanish-speaking fans.”
Bellator will continue its tournament format, so at the end of each season it will crown new tournament champions, just as it did in its first season with Joe Soto, Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard and Lyman Good. The first event of Bellator’s second season will air live in prime time on Thursday, April 8, 2010 on Fox Sports Net. The second season will run for 12 straight weeks, and then Season 3 is scheduled to begin on August 12, also running for 12 straight weeks.