DSE head Nobuyuki Sakakibara, at a press conference held on June 8th, with teary eyes, stated, "Some TV station would stand up and says 'we would like to broadcast PRIDE,' I believe in that."

Although Fuji Television terminated its PRIDE broadcasting contract with DSE (Dream Stage Entertainment), Sky Perfect TV!, on June 13th, revealed that they would continue with the Pay Per View broadcasting of PRIDE, however, with a few conditions.

According to the Daily News in Japan, Sky Perfect TV! has "No plan of changing the PPV program" but also mentioned, "In case that we confirm a new problematic point, we would have to apply a necessary measure."
Japan's popular cable station showed great discretion, and implied that they are keeping an ear close to the ground in regards to this matter.
PRIDE has the Open-weight GP on July 1st and September 10th, and the Bushido series has a Welterweight GP on August 26th and November 5th. At this point, in terms of these four shows, basically, Sky Perfect TV! is still planning on producing a Pay Per View broadcast but very cautiously commented, "We are continuing to examine a relation of fact, and at the same time, we would like to observe how things will be developing."

Also the situation is the same for the Hustle, pro-wrestling shows organized by DSE. Sky Peferfect TV! is going ahead with a Pay Per View of "Hustle Aid 2006" although Tokai Television has cancelled its national broadcast that was scheduled for June 18th.

Sakakibara, at a press conference held back on June 8th, telling reporters that the broadcasting fee DSE received from Fuji Television is about 10 to 15% of their total revenue. And the Pay Per View revenue from Sky Perfect TV! is also the same, approximately around 10 to 15%. Sakakibara remained confident,"Ticket sales is the biggest (revenue). We are penetrating into the US market, so the revenue from the foreign market will increase."
Sky Perfect TV! is the biggest shareholder of DSE so if Sky Perfect TV! pulls out then that, surely, would be a crippling blow for DSE. Some experts believe that unlike K-1 HERO'S, the majority of viewers of PRIDE are so-called "hardcore MMA fans" instead of the general public so even though the promotion doesn't get any national coverage, it might survive with only Pay Per Views.

Now, does this mean Sky Perfect TV! is the only life string for DSE? Or is DSE really looking to penetrate into the US market? On this date, DSE also unveiled that all the fights in next Bushido show, on August 26th, will be aired by FSN. In other words, no Pay Per Views in the states. What does it mean?
All we know, at this point, is that this case is still far from being closed. (06/14/2006)

It was like an indignation meeting, perhaps a pep rally with fighters and fans because what DSE announced was very minimal, "Even though Fuji Television doesn't air PRIDE, we won't go away."

DSE held a press conference on June 8th. In addition to approximately 250 reporters, over 600 fans gathered at the 11th floor of the Tokyo Prince Hotel.
Besides the Open-Weight GP competitors Hidehiko Yoshida and Kazuyuki Fujita, Takanori Gomi, Ikuhisa Minowa, and over 50 other fighters stepped up on the stage including fighters who never fought in PRIDE such as Nobuhiro Obiya, Satoko Shinashi, and Megumi Fujii.

First, DSE head Nobuyuki Sakakibara explained what exactly happened on June 5th. At 2:00 pm, staff from Fuji Television came to the opening ceremony of "Dreamers" first official PRIDE dojo and discussed various future plans with DSE. However, at 4:00 pm, a corporate lawyer showed up where DSE was supposed to have a meeting with staff from Fuji Television. There, a lawyer from Fuji Television suddenly presented to DSE an official letter notifying termination of the PRIDE broadcasting contract and said, "We would like to do the release immediately." For DSE, it was a real bolt out of the blue.
Sakakibara tried to negotiate, "I wanted to talk to all involved parties, also to the fans so I asked them to wait" but Fuji Television dropped a bombshell just 30 minutes later. Then the news was all over the street.

According to DSE, Fuji Television's reason for terminating the PRIDE broadcasting contract was that DSE has "scarred the credentials, integrity, and corporate image of Fuji Television."
Obviously, a series of articles by Weekly Gendai based on an interview with Seiya Kawamata, a former producer of Inoki Bom Ba Ye, triggered everything but Sakakibara still denies any involvement with yakuza, the Japanese mobsters, "The content of articles is a complete fabrication. I can't accept it. I don't have any relationship with antisocial power, I didn't break any law, and I also didn't commit any crime."
Sakakibara said DSE's attorneys are still "talking with Fuji Television."
Then with a teary eyes, Sakakibara expressed concern, "I feel no animosity towards Fuji Television who raised PRIDE. On the contrary, I feel Fuji Television is also a victim here. As long as fans are there, PRIDE is definitely not going away."
Sakakibara then promised that the PRIDE show will go on including its first show in the States at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on October 21st and the customary big show on New Year's Eve.
DSE has already filed a criminal complaint against Kawamata and Kodansha, the publisher of Weekly Gendai, but now they are planning on going forward with a civil lawsuit.

DSE held a press conference on June 8th in Tokyo. With more than 50 fighters up on the stage, and with over 600 fans, it looked more like a pep rally than a press conference.

Fuji Television, till this date, hasn't revealed the details or reasons that lead to this decision of terminating the PRIDE broadcasting contract with DSE but based on comments made by Sakakibara at a press conference, its apparent that it is all because of the articles ran by Weekly Gendai, one of the largest selling weekly magazines in Japan.
Some might wonder, what is the big deal about this one weekly magazine writing bad articles, but in Japan, the effects caused by these weekly magazines are very powerful and sometime devastating.
These "weekly magazines" are equivalent to Time magazine in the states in terms of distribution and its readership. The content is more like a mixture of Time, People, with touch of Playboy, and sometimes even Hustler, but weekly magazines are the biggest source for every working individuals in Japan.
These big weekly magazines, such as Gendai, and two top dogs like Weekly Bunshun and Weekly Post, with others like Weekly Shincho and Weekly Asahi are all distributed to every kiosk, convenient store, and bookstore throughout Japan. With public support on its back, these top weekly magazines have forced many corrupt politicians, immoral business executives, and unethical professionals to resigning, and have also sent a number of criminals to jail. These magazines practice in so-called "hardcore" journalism with unbendable belief, and that is a strong sense of justice and a drive to create a "clean" society.
From the April 6th 2006 issue, Weekly Gendai began running a special article on the backstage chaos of the 2003 Inoki Bom Ba Ye and its involvement with yakuza. The article is based on an interview with Kawamata conducted by Weekly Gendai "for seven hours" somewhere outside Japan. Apparently, Kawamata is currently hiding in foreign land because he feels he will get "murdered" once he goes back to Japan.
In this article, Kawamata first admits that he was once a gangster who headed a small-sized "family."
Back in the 80's, he was actually famous to the general public as the man who made Akina Nakamori the nation's top idol singer, and also, as the founder of Maharaja, a high-end dance club that symbolized the "bubble economy" frenzy that took place from Roppongi to the Azabu Juban area of Tokyo in the late 80's to early 90's. But that was just a front. Kawamata recognizes in the interview, that back then, he was in fact, a yakuza.
Kawamata then explained how he got involved in the world of professional mixed martial arts.
After this "bubble economy" blew out, he started to work with Master Kazuyoshi Ishii, the founder of Seido kaikan and K-1. At the time, supposedly, Kawamata was hoping to change his career. However, in K-1, his responsibility was, corresponding with, as the Japanese call it, people without a fifth finger. Kawamata was still working in the same world, just in a different environment. He was in charge of taking care of mobsters who control the territory where you are promoting the show.
So how did Kawamata climb up from taking care of mobsters to becoming the producer of a nationally televised big MMA show?
The following is Kawamata's explanation.
Everything changed when Master Ishii got indicted for tax evasion at the end of the year 2002. Ishii was forced to resign and Sadaharu Tanikawa, the chief editor of an MMA magazine called SRS-DX at the time, was appointed as a successor for K-1 management. A few key persons in the K-1 organization were very unhappy about letting this "outsider" control the future of K-1.
Kawamata and the others began their next plan. That was, to sign Mirko Cro Cop and Hidehiko Yoshida, and start a new MMA promotion. But this plan was stopped by DSE. DSE didn't want another big competitor emerging in the market. Kawamata stated in the interview that since he was in "good terms" with DSE at the time, he received 30 million yen (approximately 250,000 US dollars) payment from DSE and stopped the entire project.
While Cro Cop made his smooth transition from K-1 to PRIDE, the popularity of MMA increased even more, and two big MMA shows, PRIDE and K-1 Dynamite, on the night of New Year's Eve became huge TV draws.
Then, Nippon Television approached Kawamata to make another big MMA show on New Year's Eve. Nippon Television wanted to crack into this "MMA on New Year's Eve" market, hoping to create another moneymaking TV contest.
Their archrivals, Fuji Television and TBS, each already had a mega MMA show in their line-ups but Nippon Television didn't. And they believed Kawamata had enough contacts, including Anotonio Inoki, and influence in the business to create new popular TV content, a big MMA show on New Year's Eve.
Then we all know that Inoki Bom Ba Ye on New Year's Eve 2003 was announced and so was the signing of Fedor Emelianenko.

Finally the article gets into the part where DSE is mentioned. Kawamata states that DSE head Sakakibara and a few other yakuza came to his hotel room to talk about this Fedor deal. There, one of the yakuza supposedly told Kawamata that they are the true owners of PRIDE therefore they have the right to be involved. Then, according to Kawamata, they tried to force him to sign this agreement that basically stated, Inoki Bom Ba Ye recognizes that if a fighter fights once in PRIDE, regardless of the fighter's contract, getting approval from DSE is necessary before booking these fighters.
Kawamata refused and that's when extortion began, "We can't help it if something happens at your show."

Later in the same week, Sakakibara spoke to reporters,"It's a complete fabrication. Personally, and as DSE, I am totally annoyed by this. Just listening to one side of the story, and they didn't even bother coming to us to hear our side of the story" expressing unrestrained criticism towards one of Japan's most popular weekly magazines.
Then on April 17th DSE filed a criminal complaint to Kawamata and Kodansha, the publisher of Weekly Gendai.
However, this apparently ticked off Weekly Gendai editorial team. The magazine came up with series of follow up stories to prove the credibility of their reports, and also, didn't forget to counterattack against DSE and one of them was this survey they've conducted of top corporations in Japan.
The questions in this survey were like, "Would you consider sponsoring an organization or an individuals with relationship with mobsters?" Of course, everyone answered "Absolutely no" with their own reasons and Weekly Gendai printed these answers with the names of each corporation.

This was a very effective attack in a country like Japan where the "Prolonged nail will be hammered down." In the Japanese society it is very important to follow the same rules or trend as the others so when everyone is looking right, then you are supposed to look right. Among Japan's business community, Weekly Gedai's survey created a reason for not dealing with PRIDE.

Besides, for Fuji Television, 2005 was a year in turmoil because they were forced to deal with Livedoor where all the former executives are now under indictment. From a business point of view, it makes complete sense for Fuji Television to clean its corporate image before the upcoming annual shareholder's meeting. PRIDE is now under attack by a reputable weekly magazine and Fuji Television is in the process of getting rid of any ties with something negative, and this combination has resulted in a termination of the broadcasting contract.

Under this circumstance, no one gains in the MMA community. Not only PRIDE but also the other fight sport organizations including K-1 will somehow feel the effect of this because the Japanese have a tendency to categorize everything into a group.
Livedoor, Rakuten, Yahoo are all so-called "IT Corporations" or "Hills Tribes" because most executives of IT related companies like to live in Roppongi Hills, the most famous high-rise luxurious condominium in Japan.
PRIDE is a "martial arts promotion" as K-1, Shooto, Pancrase, ZST, and the other MMA and kickboxing promotions in Japan. And this means any business would now think twice about sponsoring or getting involved with "martial arts promotions."

However, on the other hand, the number still does exist and that is, that a mega MMA show is bankable among Japan's TV viewers. It's in fact an excellent TV content with a great possibility of scoring incredibly high TV rating.
The talents are there, and the fans love the thrill of a fighting sport. So this also could turn out to be the biggest opportunity for something new to emerge in the scene.
But for now, PRIDE definitely needs a TV deal.
They still do have Sky Perfect TV for PPV in Japan, and the show is televised in over ten countries worldwide but the broadcasting fee from Japan's national TV station is absolutely necessary to finance their high payroll and expenses. Without any exposures on national television, merchandise sales in Japan will, for sure, hit downward.
This is, undoubtedly the biggest crisis in PRIDE's ten-year history. Especially for Japanese fighting sport fans that have seen many promotions disappearing after losing the backing of a national TV station.
Back in the 80's Kokusai Pro-wrestling didn't even last six months after TV Tokyo cancelled its show and even in the 90's, RINGS lasted a little over a year after losing its broadcasting contract with WOWOW.
Therefore, every PRIDE fans in Japan is now thinking one thing, PRIDE needs another national TV deal. (06/09/2006)

PRIDE opened its first official dojo called "Dreamers."
And on June 5th, the day after the PRIDE Bushido Welterweight GP, at this brand new dojo, DSE held a press conference followed by the dojo opening ceremony.
The camera crew from Fuji Television was there, as was the entire Japanese sports media. A rather ordinary affair for PRIDE, the world's biggest MMA promotion.
However, hours later in that evening, stunning news rocked the entire MMA community.
Fuji Television suddenly announced that they have notified DSE of cancellation of its PRIDE broadcasting contract. This means the Japanese public can no longer watch PRIDE on channel 8, no more PRIDE on national television.

In a country like Japan where so-called "terrestrial broadcast" still dominates the TV market instead of cable stations and PPV, losing TV coverage from a national station can be crucial.
Fuji Television, on June 5th, did release the official statement in regards to this matter but no details. It basically stated that there are reasons to believe PRIDE is involved in "inadequate events" and Fuji Television believes that is a violation of the contract. As a result, Fuji Television is terminating its broadcasting contract with DSE therefore the national broadcasting of PRIDE Bushido Vol. 11 which was scheduled on June 10th is also cancelled. Yes, the majority of fans in Japan who were waiting to see the PRIDE Bushido Welterweight GP on national TV are now left with no opportunity to watch the GP first round bouts till DVD's hit the market.

This press conference was held at PRIDE's official dojo named "Dreamers." But just few hours later, PRIDE lost national TV coverage.

Then, on the next day, another blow struck DSE.
Tokai Television announced the cancellation of 'Hustle Aid 2006' which was scheduled to hit the air on June 18th. This was supposed to be the first full TV coverage for Hustle, the pro-wrestling series organized by DSE.
Tokai Television is an affiliation of Fuji Television so this was a clear message that Japan's leading TV station is determined to cut all ties with DSE.
On a same day, DSE told the media that they would continue with both PRIDE and the Hustle series. At least till the end of Open-weight GP and Welterweight GP for PRIDE. In terms of Hustle, not only have they already announced seven shows till end of August, but also beyond September. Ever since Fuji Television's announcement, DSE's phone has been ringing about "30
times per hour" and most of them are inquiries about PRIDE and Hustle. On this day, DSE emphasized on that they would continue with both PRIDE and Hustle.
Also, DSE announced that they would hold a press conference on June 8th in regards to this matter.

The next day, on June 7th, DSE announced that a press conference is going to be held at the Tokyo Prince Hotel. DSE is going to announce the next round match-ups for the Open-weight GP, and discuss the matter of Fuji Television. DSE head Nobuyuki Sakakibara, General Director Nobuhiko Takada, and fighters like Hidehiko Yoshida and Kazuyuki Fujita are going to attend a press conference.

In Japan, there are only five so-called "terrestrial broadcasting" stations. Fuji, Nippon, TBS, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo. Unless DSE can nail a broadcasting deal with one of these four other stations, this year, the customary big show for New Year's Eve is not going to be possible. Nippon TV already exeperienced a loss with both PRIDE (2) and K-1 (JAPAN). Also, TBS currently handles K-1 MAX and K-1 HERO'S, so DSE's choice maybe only two stations, TV Asahi and TV Tokyo. But TV Tokyo is considered to be a notch below compared to the other four stations so TV Asahi may well be the only choice for DSE. But TV Asahi never handled MMA and has its long history of airing pro-wrestling. Does this mean PRIDE is now completely out of national television coverage?
We will soon find out.