UFC cleans up DVDs to better showcase fights
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/18/2007
OCT. 18 | Ultimate Fighting Championship has cleaned up the look of its DVDs, while keeping fights down and dirty.
Starting with Sept. 25 release UFC Vol. 70: When Nations Collide, all UFC-branded live event titles are featured in widescreen. Also, DVD menus have been redesigned to better capture the starring matches.
Going widescreen was important for UFC to cater to sports fans, who are increasingly buying high-definition, widescreen TVs to maximize action, according to Don Gold, executive VP of UFC franchise owner Zuffa LLC.
The DVD menu enhancements evolved after UFC started creating individual micro Web sites for each of its live pay-per-view fighting events. Since First Look Home Entertainment distributes all of these events on DVD, it made sense to adapt the additional UFC content found on the micro sites for the titles. All micro sites are located at www.ufc.com.
“On the micro site, it tells you everything you need to know about the fight, including the undercard fighters,” said Gold. “You’ll get the fighter’s history and personal story. We decided to reformat that as the interactive menu on the DVD.”
Gold believes this enhancement will create momentum into 2008, when UFC will likely release its first high-def title. The company has not decided if it will street on Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD.
Next year, UFC anticipates bowing 38 titles spanning its various properties, including First Look’s UFC live event releases and Navarre Distribution’s The Ultimate Fighter TV DVDs and Pride Fighting Championship titles.
The next live event, Oct. 20 match UFC 77, will street on DVD on Jan. 29.
