DirecTV Drops Versus/WEC Programming

News

The Aug. 31 deadline has passed, and DirecTV has followed through on their threat to remove Versus from its lineup.

DirecTV said that poor ratings were the reason for dropping the channel, noting that ratings for the channel have not increased enough over time to justify what they are paying for the programming. Not only that, but Versus was asking for a significant pay raise, which was a price DirecTV was not interesting in dishing out.

Another wrinkle in the story: Versus is owned by Comcast, a director competitor to DirecTV in the enhanced television programming market. DirecTV claims that Comcast has ordered the channel to be removed from their lineup.

The biggest question for MMA fans coming out of this will obviously be the state of the WEC programming that resides on Versus. There’s been increasing speculation over the past few weeks, fueled by comments from Dana White, that the lower weight classes in the WEC could be folded into the UFC lineup. The DirecTV situation could very well serve as the catalyst that makes that happen, but it’s not as though Versus doesn’t have clearance without DirecTV. The satellite provider makes up about 20% of the total Versus audience.

This could very well be resolved within the next week or so.

We’ve reached out to WEC management and will update this post with additional information as we receive it.

UPDATE: Robin Zimmerman from Dish Network contacted us regarding the story. She says that, starting today, all new and existing Dish Network customers can watch Versus for free for the next three months in both high-definition and standard definition.