Celestial renews rights to Bellator MMA

Celestial Tiger Entertainment, operator of the bouquet pan-Asian channels KIX and Thrill, has renewed its commitment to the growing sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), renewing a multi-year licensing deal to Bellator MMA Fighting Championships.Bellator will continue to air exclusively on KIX, CTE’s action entertainment channel, across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. The events will air during the channel's “MMA Mondays” time-block within the same week as the live US broadcasts.“We are excited to continue our partnership with Bellator MMA. As the pay TV ‘Home of Combat’ in Asia, we promise our viewers world-class combat sport events, and Bellator MMA fulfills that promise with some of the biggest and most exciting matches in the mixed martial arts world today," said Betty Tsui, vice president of programming for KIX and Thrill.Founded in 2008, Bellator MMA has become one of the world’s largest MMA promotions, airing in over 120 countries and reaching over 400 million homes on a weekly basis. Bellator MMA's last event in 2014 broke ratings records during its live broadcast and became the highest-rated Bellator MMA event in history. KIX will be airing the next Bellator MMA event “Bellator 134: The British Invasion” on Monday, 2 March.In addition to Bellator MMA, KIX also airs a variety of combat sport events from around the world including World Series of Fighting, Glory World Series, UK promotion BAMMA, M-1 and Road FC, one of Asia’s biggest MMA promotions.