The Ultimate Fighting Championship is reportedly in talks with two German broadcasters after the overturning of a five-year ban from broadcast television for the mixed martial arts series.
The Administrative Court in Munich, Germany has ruled the current broadcast ban declared by the Bavarian State Media Authority (BLM) on UFC events as “illegitimate.” The court ruled in favour of Zuffa, the UFC’s parent company, which filed a lawsuit against the BLM in 2010 when it declared the ban.
The UFC said: “According to the court it can be assumed that UFC content is generally suitable for broadcast. A violation of general morality or undesirable influence on youth cannot be determined. Rather the court finds the assessment of mixed martial arts as a plausible sport.
“The court sees the declared broadcast ban at any rate as disproportional. The BLM does not have legal grounds for banning programming that it only deems undesirable from its own point of view. Eventually, in no sense did the BLM take into consideration the legally protected rights of Zuffa.”
Until March 2010, viewers in Germany could watch UFC events on sports broadcasters Sport1 and DSF but BLM imposed the ban, reversing permission it had previously granted just one year before. However, the UFC has been provided via streaming platforms and the organisation’s digital streaming service Fight Pass.
The MMAFighting.com website said the UFC is currently in talks with commercial broadcasters RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 over returning the series to German television.
UFC chief global brand officer Garry Cook said: “This verdict is a milestone for the UFC and for the many UFC fans in Germany. The court has confirmed that it was illegitimate to ban our broadcast programmes. We always had confidence in the German market and felt a responsibility to grow the sport and satisfy demand – this is why we fought against this ban. We will continue to work intensively to bring events, content and original programming to German viewers.”
During the period UFC was banned, it only ran one show in the market, on May 31, 2004 at the O2 Arena in Berlin. The BLM can appeal against the verdict to the Administrative Court.