Wheelie
27-10-2015, 23:23
GLORY kickboxing to no longer air on Spike TV
Confirming long-standing rumors, GLORY kickboxing events will no longer air on Spike TV. After a run of more than a dozen events dating back to 2013, Spike will no longer air the top kickboxing organization's shows. The network confirmed the news with MMA Fighting on Tuesday.
GLORY events first began airing on Spike in November of 2013 with GLORY 12 in Chicago, Illinois. The Viacom-owned station would eventually air thirteen GLORY-specific events as well as Bellator Dynamite 1 in September, which featured a number of GLORY kickboxing bouts.
The leading kickboxing organization also ran their Last Man Standing middleweight tournament during their tenure on Spike, but this event aired solely on pay-per-view. GLORY 17, however, was the lead-in programming for this event and aired live on Spike TV.
The most recent GLORY event to broadcast on Spike was GLORY 24 from Denver, Colorado, an event headlined by Joe Schilling, who also fights for Bellator MMA. That event aired on Friday, October 9th, beginning at 11pm ET and drew only 283,000 average viewers. While GLORY events have largely drawn praise from consumers and viewers, ratings for the programming underperformed during their run on the national network.
According to representatives with the network, the decision to no longer air GLORY is not sudden. Talks between GLORY and Spike were ongoing, but no agreement could be reached before the existing arrangement expired. In conjunction with PBC boxing and Bellator MMA, GLORY kickboxing has a component of the network's 'Friday Night Lights Out', a call to viewers to rely on Spike to provide combat sports action at a designated time on Friday evenings.
MMA Fighting has reached out to GLORY representatives and will add their comments if and when they respond.
While its future on U.S. television is unknown at this time, the kickboxing organization has a number of international television distribution deals. They stage their next event, GLORY 25, on November 6th in Milan, Italy and will air those bouts on the organization's website.
Confirming long-standing rumors, GLORY kickboxing events will no longer air on Spike TV. After a run of more than a dozen events dating back to 2013, Spike will no longer air the top kickboxing organization's shows. The network confirmed the news with MMA Fighting on Tuesday.
GLORY events first began airing on Spike in November of 2013 with GLORY 12 in Chicago, Illinois. The Viacom-owned station would eventually air thirteen GLORY-specific events as well as Bellator Dynamite 1 in September, which featured a number of GLORY kickboxing bouts.
The leading kickboxing organization also ran their Last Man Standing middleweight tournament during their tenure on Spike, but this event aired solely on pay-per-view. GLORY 17, however, was the lead-in programming for this event and aired live on Spike TV.
The most recent GLORY event to broadcast on Spike was GLORY 24 from Denver, Colorado, an event headlined by Joe Schilling, who also fights for Bellator MMA. That event aired on Friday, October 9th, beginning at 11pm ET and drew only 283,000 average viewers. While GLORY events have largely drawn praise from consumers and viewers, ratings for the programming underperformed during their run on the national network.
According to representatives with the network, the decision to no longer air GLORY is not sudden. Talks between GLORY and Spike were ongoing, but no agreement could be reached before the existing arrangement expired. In conjunction with PBC boxing and Bellator MMA, GLORY kickboxing has a component of the network's 'Friday Night Lights Out', a call to viewers to rely on Spike to provide combat sports action at a designated time on Friday evenings.
MMA Fighting has reached out to GLORY representatives and will add their comments if and when they respond.
While its future on U.S. television is unknown at this time, the kickboxing organization has a number of international television distribution deals. They stage their next event, GLORY 25, on November 6th in Milan, Italy and will air those bouts on the organization's website.