UFC Eyes HBO and TNT Expansion as Owners Talk Up Bigger Broadcast Reach

The UFC could soon be fighting on more screens than ever. On Wednesday's TKO Group Holdings earnings call, president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro confirmed the company is in active talks with Skydance about spreading UFC programming across HBO, TNT, Paramount+ and CBS. The discussions follow Paramount-Skydance's recent completion of its massive $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that puts HBO, TNT and CBS under the same corporate roof as Paramount+. The UFC only moved from ESPN to Paramount+ at the start of 2026, under a seven-year, $7.7 billion agreement that tied all 43 live events a year to the streamer and did away with the traditional pay-per-view model in the United States. Shapiro said the aim is to maximise audience across the newly expanded portfolio, "expanding eyeballs, expanding viewership, growing audience, and increasing engagement." The business case is strong: UFC revenue grew 60 percent year over year to $519.2 million in the third quarter of 2026, while adjusted earnings climbed 72 percent to $285.3 million. For now, though, there is no announced timeline and no specific shows earmarked for HBO or TNT, with the merger integration still under way. The talk is real, but fight fans will have to wait to find out what actually lands on the new channels.