In Boston, Jack Encarnacao writes while the UFC is "not the highest-rated sport on fledgling FS1 -- NASCAR and college football often beat it -- the UFC’s ambitious live events schedule, with 45 planned this year, feeds the network’s voracious appetite for live content." Though the UFC "speaks glowingly about their network partner, some of the company’s key metrics have regressed since moving the bulk of their content to FS1." Ratings for the UFC’s signature reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," are "a magnitude lower than they were when the series aired on FX and Spike." Still, FS1 GM David Nathanson said it is FS1’s "most popular series" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/16).
KNIGHT MOVES: CBS Sports Network and the Army Athletic Association on Thursday announced a five-year renewal of their TV rights deal, which allows CBSSN to broadcast every Army home football game and select neutral-site games in which Army is the designated home team. The deal covers the '15-19 seasons and dictates that a majority of Army home games be played on Saturdays at 12:00pm ET. A live web stream of the telecasts will be made available free of charge to U.S. military personnel around the world (CBS Sports).
GAME OF INCHES: VENTUREBEAT.com's Jeff Grubb noted consumers over the past year "have downloaded EA Mobile’s sports games to mobile devices more than 100 million times." Madden NFL Mobile, "with the excitement for the league’s playoffs at its high point, has found ways to generate a lot of revenue." The game "reached No. 4 on the highest-grossing apps chart on iOS during the holidays." That is territory "typically reserved for only the best-performing games like Candy Crush Saga, Game of War, and Boom Beach." The game was "ranked No. 13 on the revenue chart" as of Thursday (VENTUREBEAT.com, 1/15).
