UFC Signs New DVD Distributor
Jake Rossen Jul 9, 2009
The UFC’s home video distribution deal with First Look Studios
appears to be taking its final lap: The promotion announced today
that Anchor Bay Entertainment would be the funnel for all future
disc releases beginning in September. (UFC 96, possibly the last of
the First Look titles, is set for an Aug. 18 debut.)
Anchor Bay plans on issuing events 60 days from their pay-per-view date, which is a substantially more efficient time-lapse than previous releases: UFC 95, set for a July 21 DVD date, was originally broadcast on Feb. 21 of this year. The company is also held in high regard among videophiles for attention to more obscure catalog releases, particularly in the horror genre. (Hopefully, their zeal to double and triple-dip in consumers’ pockets -- they issued at least 20 different discs for the “Evil Dead” franchise -- won’t infect their sports division.)
The UFC’s back catalog situation remains a natural disaster. SEG sold video rights to Trimark, which was eventually absorbed by Lionsgate; that company sporadically issues pre-Zuffa titles under the “UFC Classics” banner, but unaired preliminary fights are never part of the package. Either someone hasn’t looked in the warehouse hard enough, or SEG simply failed to preserve that footage. A shame: it’s history that shouldn’t have been neglected.
Still MIA from the Zuffa era: UFCs 30-38, including 37.5. Dana White has been quoted as saying that the paint-peeling stink of #33 will “never” get an official release, but that’s not very fair to completists. Make it an online exclusive for the hardcores to sniff out.
Anchor Bay plans on issuing events 60 days from their pay-per-view date, which is a substantially more efficient time-lapse than previous releases: UFC 95, set for a July 21 DVD date, was originally broadcast on Feb. 21 of this year. The company is also held in high regard among videophiles for attention to more obscure catalog releases, particularly in the horror genre. (Hopefully, their zeal to double and triple-dip in consumers’ pockets -- they issued at least 20 different discs for the “Evil Dead” franchise -- won’t infect their sports division.)
The UFC’s back catalog situation remains a natural disaster. SEG sold video rights to Trimark, which was eventually absorbed by Lionsgate; that company sporadically issues pre-Zuffa titles under the “UFC Classics” banner, but unaired preliminary fights are never part of the package. Either someone hasn’t looked in the warehouse hard enough, or SEG simply failed to preserve that footage. A shame: it’s history that shouldn’t have been neglected.
Still MIA from the Zuffa era: UFCs 30-38, including 37.5. Dana White has been quoted as saying that the paint-peeling stink of #33 will “never” get an official release, but that’s not very fair to completists. Make it an online exclusive for the hardcores to sniff out.
