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WWE Network finally happening


flyonthewall2983

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TNA actually beats out WWE in the ratings in the UK, which suggests supports evidence that a lot of people pirate Raw & Smackdown over here. TNA is on free TV and on at primetime rather than the early hours of the morning. Plus there is extremely high speed internet everywhere which probably helps make the decision to watch online; is that the case in the USA as well? If not, could explain the geographical inequality of the streams.

Don't want to take this off on too much of a tangent, but I have to take all that with a pinch of salt. I read a lot about "TNA's great fans in the UK", but have you seen what else outdraws RAW on Challenge? Re-runs of Bullseye from the 1980s and old episode of Catchphrase.

 

For our friends across the pond, here's what else outdraws RAW.

 

Posted Image

 

Posted Image

 

If it's not obvious from those pics, 25-year old game shows.

 

Unless we're arguing that 100,000 people+ are going out of their way to catch these old shows every week, then it suggests to me that that is roughly the number of people who leave challenge on "for at least 3 minutes" while they have a dump or make a cup of tea or something on average across the week at any given time.

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If this is going to cut down on piracy, this full year until this network launches in Canada is going to stink.

I kind of expect it to have the opposite effect, as people will find a way to rip the higher quality stuff off the Network and then it'll filter out to the torrent sites. That's just an observation though because I plan to give them my money for the Network as soon as they'll let me.

 

I don't know if they will stop the pirating, because pirating is just easier sometimes, but I think they will be able to convert free streamers into $10 PPV customers. Granted, the people might download the show after anyway, but it will help a bit in that department. I don't think that pirating is that bad sometimes anyway as I'd rather have people watching my stuff for free than have them not watching it period.

 

The first thing a lot of people are going to be doing is finding ways to rip stuff, if for no reason than their own personal collections. Perfect quality full seasons of Raw and SD would be highly sought after stuff. However, I still don't believe WWE will give everything away like they claim they will. I can totally see them choosing select episodes of Raw and SD, maybe 10 a year or so and rolling with that. Or they will find some way to package the Raw/SD eps in a "best of" manner. They've never released any full seasons to prove to me otherwise. They also can get away with no releasing full seasons of anything.

 

On the overseas releases of footage:

I don't have any facts to prove this but it does seem the biggest collectors of genre's of pirated stuff often comes from other countries. American's have pirated puro that the Japanese couldn't even dream of having. The biggest uploaders of wrestling footage do seem to come from the UK too.

 

The fans watching bootleg streams because $45-$55 is too much will probably buy the network.

 

The people who would never have paid for the network at any price...well, why care about them?

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PWInsider:

 

The WWE roster has been informed that Vince McMahon will be meeting with them this Monday at Raw in Providence, Rhode Island to discuss the launch of the WWE Network and how this will change the company's landscape going forward.

A number of talents we've spoken with are most interested in how the Network launching will change the bonuses they receive for PPVs as well as royalties for DVDs the company releases.

 

Since Wrestlemania will be the first PPV featured on the Network and is traditionally the biggest check of the year for talents, obviously they are concerned they could be losing out on a major payday.

Also Wade Keller said that he was of the belief the WWE talent contract only covered merchandise as in tangible/physical objects. So talent as it stands aren't entitled to Spotify type royalties rates.

 

I have time and again pointed to the contracts of Trip and Steph to show where Network money would fall. I've also points out that one of two things would happen:

 

* the WWE would account for the "Network Money Pool" under one of the existing sections in the contract, or

* the WWE will craft a new section that's more explicit on the Network Money Pool

 

Looking at the sections, they don't really need to do the second - I'm pretty comfortable that it is already covered. But that doesn't mean you don't transition to the second one over time to avoid Talent asking the question and having to always answer it for them.

 

John

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The fans watching bootleg streams because $45-$55 is too much will probably buy the network.

 

The people who would never have paid for the network at any price...well, why care about them?

Dead on, I think. I have found alternate ways to view PPVs if there was only one match I wanted to see, where it wasn't worth $60 to me. Now they'll certainly have my money for those shows (and shows that I'm not interested in at all).

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Could the WWE Network actually lead to wrestling becoming popular again?

 

Just stumbled on someone asking this, and I thought it was an interesting question to ponder.

 

The general feeling seems to be that the fact it is actually more expensive than Netflix creates too high an entry barrier for non-fans. On the flip-side, a casual Wrestlemania buyer might work out that they can get 6-months worth of wrestling for the same price as 3 hours, making it a no-brainer. Question is though: how do you grow beyond the existing fanbase with that?

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I follow a lot of the new mainstream sports media types on Twitter and the WWE Network has been huge among them and it is definitely appealing to people that don't watch wrestling on a regular basis and grew up with it.

 

The main selling point is the old school stuff but if they will start watching the current stuff along with it and stuff like NXT then you have exposed your product to people that wouldn't normally watch it on regular TV.

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I didn't think I would want to get it at first. I get enough wrestling for my weekly dose from Main Event, NXT and random matches from the other shows that I check out if the right people hype them. Just too good of a deal to pass up on though. Seems hard to believe that they will be able to cover all the PPV revenue they will be losing from just network subscriptions. Getting extra money for the rights to RAW and Smackdown could be vital. It explains the timing of the network and why it kept getting pushed back. This is a really ballsy move and I hope it pays off for them. Seems like they are getting the right kind of word of mouth at this point. Really have to give Vince credit for having the guts to make such a radical shift in they way they do things.

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Yeah, I had a conversation with a guy at work today who hasn't watched regularly in years but is intrigued by the network. That's obviously a tiny sample size. The reaction seems promising though.

I think those might be promising for one time subs, but they are also always the types who at the end of 6 months might check out. They moved on from pro wrestling for various reasons, and those reasons haven't likely changed.

 

The trick with this is to get continuing and then sustain things with New Subs = or > Non-Renewals.

 

John

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How does the USA Network etc., feel about the network? While they retain first run privleges, are they worried that the encores might eat into their ratings by people who have no qualms about watching it afterwards?

Were there any reports on when Encores hit?

 

I don't think they (or whoever gets Raw/SD) really cares as long as their first run has some level of protection, similar to First Run vs Re-Run on other shows. In addition, if there's even a small chance that the Network grows the wrestling audience (heavy lift there), they'll be happy with those New/Returners checking out Raw/SD.

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I follow a lot of the new mainstream sports media types on Twitter and the WWE Network has been huge among them and it is definitely appealing to people that don't watch wrestling on a regular basis and grew up with it.

 

The main selling point is the old school stuff but if they will start watching the current stuff along with it and stuff like NXT then you have exposed your product to people that wouldn't normally watch it on regular TV.

 

This is where I feel I might end up becoming.

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Dave brought up a great point in their Q&A show:

 

 

Comcast, as a cable company, is likely as upset about potentially losing PPV revenue as DirecTV is (just not likely to write a pissy PR release about it). They also own NBCUniversal, who WWE is trying to get 2-3x the TV revenue from. That could make for some interesting talks when Vince comes in asking to get paid more when the network is taking cash out of Universal's pockets.

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I have 2 Rokus ( The 2 and the 3 ) and they are great. There is also a Roku app that let's you play your music, videos, and photos on your TV. Roku also got YouTube right around Christmas so you can also watch that on your TV too! I had Apple TV but like Roku better. Very easy to navigate. Woot.com also has Rokus marked down sometimes too.

When I read this, I literally ran downstairs to turn on my Roku and add the channel. I can not find it. Are you sure they added it?

 

EDIT - I see it's only Roku 3 for now. I have a Roku 2.

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I have 2 Rokus ( The 2 and the 3 ) and they are great. There is also a Roku app that let's you play your music, videos, and photos on your TV. Roku also got YouTube right around Christmas so you can also watch that on your TV too! I had Apple TV but like Roku better. Very easy to navigate. Woot.com also has Rokus marked down sometimes too.

When I read this, I literally ran downstairs to turn on my Roku and add the channel. I can not find it. Are you sure they added it?

 

It's only available on a Roku 3 device as of now. I sure hope Roku doesn't pull the same crap for the WWE Network. I only have a Roku 2 and want to purchase a second for the Network since the kids hog up the other, I just don't want to get stuck with a wrong one.

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Let me try to ask this as clearly as possible.

 

WWE digitised most of their library before they came to an agreement with World Wild Life fund.

 

So will the WWE Network have the blurred scratch logo on footage at launch?

 

Did WWE keep an unblurred copy of each show when they were digitising their library over the past decade or so? Or will they have to go through the process all over again?

 

I do remember hearing somewhere that WWE only made a blurred logo digital transfers of shows.

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Dave brought up a great point in their Q&A show:

 

Comcast, as a cable company, is likely as upset about potentially losing PPV revenue as DirecTV is (just not likely to write a pissy PR release about it). They also own NBCUniversal, who WWE is trying to get 2-3x the TV revenue from. That could make for some interesting talks when Vince comes in asking to get paid more when the network is taking cash out of Universal's pockets.

This is something I've been saying: launching the network, particularly with including Wrestlemania, seemed like they were risking thumbing their nose at the sugar daddy. That's why I didn't think they'd want to launch before they had the TV rights negotiations wrapped up. But they did, because they figured they had to launch in Road to Wrestlemania mode. Its a gamble but that's how McMahons roll, I guess.

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