The UFC officially debuts on Paramount+ in January 2026 and with that prices for the streaming service are about to increase.
On Monday as part of a letter sent to investors, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison revealed plans for a price hike coming in the first quarter of 2026, although the exact amount has not been disclosed yet. Paramount+ currently costs $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year for the essential plan with ads or $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year for the premium plan with no ads outside of live television options.
“Our ongoing investments in Paramount+ are enhancing the value we deliver to consumers,” Ellison said in the letter. “To support this continued investment, we plan to implement price increases in the U.S. early in the first quarter of 2026, and we recently announced upcoming price adjustments in Canada and Australia.
“These changes will fuel continued reinvestment in the user experience and deliver an even stronger slate of programming for our customers in the year ahead and beyond.”
The UFC inked a massive $7.7 billion deal over seven years to move the company’s entire programming slate to Paramount starting in 2026 after the current deal with ESPN expires. As part of the new deal, all UFC events — including the numbered pay-per-view events — are going to air exclusively on Paramount+ at no additional cost outside of the price paid for a subscription.
“By removing the secondary pay-per-view paywall – historically a key barrier for UFC fans – we’re making these premium events available to every Paramount+ subscriber at no additional cost,” Ellison said. “We’re excited to deliver this exceptional value with the cost of an annual subscription to Paramount+ being less than just one UFC pay-per-view event under prior distribution.
“We’re confident that greater accessibility will lead to significant incremental subscriber growth and greater engagement across our platform, creating long-term value for both us and the UFC.”
During an earnings investment call, Paramount executives also highlighted the UFC running as a year round sport with no off season, which makes it a very attractive sports property to prevent churn with subscribers.
It was noted during the call that after the Masters golf tournament concluded and the NFL season started that Paramount+ experienced a loss of subscribers. The hope is that the UFC keeps subscribers on board for the entire year because there is no down time for the promotion on a month to month basis.
In addition to the UFC deal, Paramount also added Zuffa Boxing to its lineup starting in 2026 as the new promotion headed up by UFC CEO Dana White and WWE president Nick Khan — with funding provided by Saudi Arabia — prepares for a multitude of events each year.
“We could not be more excited about our partnership with TKO, Dana White and UFC and look, I’d also loop into that Zuffa Boxing,” Ellison said during the call. “Those two deals obviously makes Paramount+ really the home for combat sports. Obviously in the United States and we also have rights in Latin America and Australia. When you also look at the UFC, it is the largest sport that is not basically split off across multiple platforms. It really is a unicorn sports property. We think it’s going to drive a tremendous amount of value in terms of both subscriber growth and engagement across Paramount+ as well as CBS where there will be some aspect of the UFC that also lives on CBS.
“In addition to that, when you think about UFC and the opportunity there, there’s 100 million fans in the U.S. alone. It’s grown 25 percent since 2019 to today and it’s been doing all of that behind a double paywall in its previous home. So from that standpoint, we think when you eliminate the double paywall, it’s going to become much more accessible and we think that the growth rate will increase. Additionally to that, we think we’re offering through our subscribers at Paramount+ really significant value in the fact that for approximately one pay-per-view, you basically can access all of the UFC across Paramount+. From that standpoint, we think it’s a great value for consumers.”
Ever since completing a merger to take over Paramount and combine the company with Skydance, Ellison has repeatedly pointed as content as king when it comes to future investment.
In addition to deals with the UFC and Zuffa Boxing on the sports side, Paramount also inked massive deals with the creators behind South Park as well as Matt and Ross Duffer, who created the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.
“We need to obviously invest in more content,” Ellison said. “Having an asset like the UFC is going to increase engagement on platform, it’s going to drive subscribers and we’re feeling incredibly confident in the investment that we just made.”
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