As these shifts take place, the media industry is about to go through a major test: how many people are willing to pay for a lot of — but not all — the sports content they want to watch.

Paramount has struck a blockbuster deal to become the exclusive US broadcaster of UFC fights, agreeing to pay $7.7 billion over seven years starting in 2026. The deal, with UFC parent company TKO Group,

The meet and greet was at UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas nearly a year ago. In the luxury box of TKO Holdings, which owns UFC and WWE, were media luminaries: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Disney’s Bob Iger and the future leader of Paramount, David Ellison, CEO of Skydance.