No Love for HDNet?

It’s not easy for all of us in the United States to easily find and watch Japanese MMA without the aid of the internet. And with the recent news that Tokyo Broadcasting Station (TBS) had dropped the Dream promotion from it’s slot on network television, things were looking even worse for us. Not to mention that the organization itself would have lost potential viewers and future fans by not acquiring any television coverage.

It’s our lucky day, again, as HDNet comes to the rescue with some potentially exciting Japanese MMA to be aired on May 2nd. Granted it’s not live, but we will be watching Dream 2 even before Japanese viewers will get a chance to see MMA action in their own homes. Sure, you can read about the results, chat on the forums, or try to watch grainy videos, but nothing comes close to watching the event in high definition.

So where is the love for HDNet? I don’t routinely find people writing about how much HDNet has done for MMA in the short time that the channel has been airing MMA fights. Do we take the channel for granted or is it just another expensive HD channel that only a few of us can barely afford?

Mark Cuban isn’t on the receiving end of many compliments either these days. As the head of the company, Cuban has rose through the ranks as an entrepreneur who went from being an average joe to a billionaire, but people still write him off as someone who is just cashing in on the sport. While it’s certainly questionable that Cuban began airing MMA fights as soon as the sport began to take off, his company has also taken many risks by airing so many small domestic fights along with the big international fights like Yarennoka. Even the IFL is shown on HDNet after being dropped from their spot on MyNetworkTV. Cuban gets points just for being that guy who is taking a chance on the small MMA promotions that would otherwise receive no reputable television coverage.

Not only does HDNet go out and capture all of these events for our viewing pleasure, their HD feed is amazingly clear. Although the UFC 83 HD quality improved slightly from the previous live pay per view events, they still didn’t even come close to what can be seen on HDNet on a random weeknight. You also can’t find a worthwhile MMA news show on Spike TV like Inside MMA with our friends Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice.

So what’s not to love about HDNet right now? You get both local and international fight cards in high definition with a weekly news show to boot. There’s no Bill Goldberg, no expensive pay per views, and the organization might just stick around for a while. I’m off to watch Reckless Abandon 2 from Dallas Texas. You know, the one with Frank Trigg and Edwin Dewees?