Karate Combat Signs with ProSieben, Content Shown in Germany
7Sports, the sport business unit of ProSiebenSat.1, announced an exclusive agreement with Karate Combat to bring its full contact karate competitions free-to-air and online to audiences on ProSieben MAXX and ran FIGHTING across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. 7Sports belongs to the leading German entertainment player ProSiebenSat.1 Group.
Eight events from all over the world will air throughout 2019, live, near-live or on demand on the dedicated combat sports digital platform ran FIGHTING. Selected events will be shown free-to-air on TV channel ProSieben MAXX. Karate Combat: One World Center will celebrate its premiere in German-language Free TV on March 24th at 10:00 p.m. CET (GMT +1).
The new martial arts league is the first mainstream, professional full contact league and has received international praise since its launch last April. Competitions in Budapest, Athens, Miami, New York City and Hollywood were viewed by millions live, with many more watching replays. A new championship structure, leading to the awarding of the Golden Belt in each weight class has riveted fans as returning fighters take on new challengers.
Karate Combat’s distribution model, working with prestigious partners in linear and digital television, has earned it praise from The New York Times, which compares the presentation to video game Street Fighter come to life, and TechCrunch, which called it the future of the sports business. In 2019, Karate Combat will broadcast events live from Japan, China, Brazil, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia and the U.S.
“We’re very pleased to reach a large audience of German speaking TV viewers with 7Sports,” said Michael DePietro, CEO of Karate Combat. “Broadcasting on the free-to-air ProSieben MAXX channel means we’ll reach mainstream viewers as well as ran FIGHTING’s sports fans, and we’re confident they’ll be hooked on Karate Combat’s action.”
Zeljko Karajica, CEO of 7Sports: “Karate Combat is uniquely created. The highest martial art meets unique production. We bring the combination of the two to the German-speaking viewers onto all screens.”
ran FIGHTING boasts Germany’s largest combat sports archive, including ONE Championship and German Mixed-Martial-Arts Chamionship (GMC), all available through the ran FIGHTING BLACK PASS subscription.
For more information, visit http://www.karate.com and http://www.ranFIGHTING.de.
