Bluegrassrivals

Vince McMahon’s dream to expand his sports-entertainment empire through a dedicated cable channel appears very much in doubt.

Faced with numerous outstanding hurdles, Wrestlezone.com reports Thursday that plans for the WWE Network have been indefinitely placed on hold. Although WWE’s television shows draw strong ratings, the organization has yet to strike a single deal with a cable or satellite-television provider to carry the channel one year after officially announcing its formation. And while WWE has considered making the network a pay-subscription channel, similar to HBO or Showtime, internal studies have shown less than 100,000 homes would be willing to pay a monthly fee.

WWE was expected to hire approximately 200 employees, including a general manager to run the channel. According to sources close to the head of its Human resources department and Vice President of programming, the company has issued a hiring freeze. It is said that any recent hires are in jeopardy of being terminated.

WWE initially timed the launch of the network for April 1, 2012 to coincide with its pay-per-view extravaganza, WrestleMania. The company even had a clock counting down to the April launch date on its site, which eventually disappeared. The launch was reportedly pushed to November 2012, then February 2013. Now, with the infrastructure set up as it is, the network will be virtually impossible to get off the ground within the next year.





http://www.sescoops.com/wwes-plans-for-c...d-on-hold/

I hope it don't happen because then I wouldn't get to watch it

Vince is a smart man when it comes to professional wrestling, but he is as dumb as an ox when it comes to anything else involving business.

^ Most people aren't gonna pay two fees every month just to watch 4 episodes of Raw and Smackdown then turn around and do the same thing to watch a PPV, especially when you can get online as soon as it ends and find the results of what happened

Quote:- PWInsider reports that there is no truth to the reports that came out this week stating WWE has put all plans and operations for the WWE Network on hold. Plans are proceeding for the network.

Apparently there have also been rumors that WWE may be producing content for the new NBC Sports network, formerly known as The Versus Channel. While this isn't outside of the realm of possibility because of WWE's relationship with NBC Universal, word is that there have been no discussions at all regarding WWE producing programming for NBC Sports.

Not bad.

I wouldn't mind one way or another.

The official website of Los Angeles Times has published an article reporting that WWE is leaning toward launching a pay-TV channel with its fledgling WWE Network.

WWE originally hoped to launch the channel on the basic cable tier and receive a subscription fee of approximately 20 cents per month per subscriber. However, space is limited on most cable and satellite systems and the amount of WWE content already available limited the growth potential of a stand-alone commercial network.

“Clearly the cable operators didn’t view what they brought to market as compelling enough,” said Brad Safalow, an analyst with PAA Research who took the organization to task last month during its second-quarter-earnings call for not sharing more information on the network.

WWE is now focusing its efforts on creating a commercial-free, pay-subscription channel similar to HBO and Showtime that consumers would order at their discretion, according to people familiar with the sports-entertainment organization’s mindset.

If WWE goes forward with a premium channel, it would likely feature most pay-per-view events on the network to entice people to sign up. The exceptions would be major events, most notably WrestleMania.

“Subscribing to the network would be a ‘no brainer’ for the company’s hardcore fans,” Safalow stated in a recent report.

He anticipates a subscription price of $14.95 for the channel and that WWE should be able to instantly garner 400,000 subscribers and almost double that amount in two years. He projects that in 2014, a pay channel could add as much as $141.6 million in revenue to the company.

WWE remains mum on its plans for the network. “The WWE Network in any form is a transformative opportunity if we execute it right,” said George Barrios, WWE’s Chief Financial Officer. “It is taking the appropriate amount of time for us to identify the best strategic and financial opportunity.”



http://www.sescoops.com/wwe-reportedly-l...v-channel/

Really? At every even (Raw, Smackdown, live events) you have 20,000+ in attendence, you have people all over the world buying merchandise. Each PPV get's about another 20,000+ in attendence, not to mention the millions of fans who order it and yet your worried about financial?

That's just plain dumb. If WWE does this, I won't be watching anymore!