Bellator joins forces with @BBCSport
UK fans will be able to stream EVERY Bellator MMA event live on
@BBCiPlayer
in pic.twitter.com/3nntEaXPzH— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe)
February 11, 2021
Fresh off its announcement with Showtime, Bellator MMA has secured its 2021 broadcasting
schedule for audiences in the United Kingdom. On Thursday, the promotion announced
that it has signed a deal to air its events this year on the
British Broadcasting Corporation’s streaming service, BBC iPlayer.
Showtime Sports is only available for U.S. audiences, so the
organization needed to set its international lineup for its other
fans. This deal will include the airing of every event of the year
starting with
Bellator 255 on April 2, and should contain both U.S.-based
cards and those held internationally through its Bellator Europe
wing.
This is not the first arrangement between Bellator and the BBC, as
its first event aired on the BBC iPlayer was the organization’s
debut in France with Bellator Paris in October 2020. Bellator’s
past arrangement with audiences in the U.K. region was one with Sky
Sports, and it has also worked with Channel 5 – the latter the home
to the notorious “Peppa Pig” incident in which fans saw a major
main event switch to the children’s animated cartoon.
BBC iPlayer is not a subscription-based service, and is streamed
for free for those only in the U.K. It does require registering a
BBC account to login and access the events.