WWE Network pontificating

[A Guy Named Tracy]

I thought I read somewhere that the PPVs will be uncut. Two questions:

1.) Will the aftermath from Owen's fall be shown? A better question is will they even offer that PPV?

2.) Will they show the WCW matches with an unmasked Rey?

[E.J.]

I thought I read somewhere that the PPVs will be uncut. Two questions:

1.) Will the aftermath from Owen's fall be shown? A better question is will they even offer that PPV?

2.) Will they show the WCW matches with an unmasked Rey?

 

I really think they have to. I mean, if they blur his face or something I would imagine the outrage, plus, It takes about 2 seconds for the average kid with an iPad, Laptop, or mobile device to go into google and type in "Rey Mysterio unmasked". I would think WWE would realize it's 2014 and information is everywhere, so here's hoping

[keith_h]

 

How would an ISP blocker work with a Canadian account being used to set it up? Won't they know that my credit card is not a Yankee one?

That's the other possibility. That you have to have an American Visa/address, but those sites usually work on where the IP is coming from, not where the money is coming from. American Netflix, for example, works with a proxy.

 

 

You don't even need to use a proxy for Netflix. Just change your DNS. If the WWE Network works the same as Netflix, MLB.TV, NHL game center, etc... you will be able to change your DNS and have access, without having your stream slowed down by going through a potentially slow proxy or VPN.

 

OpenDNS or Google's free DNS might even work.

 

Something like this: http://www.netflixfixer.com/2013/06/updated-dns-codes-for-us-netflix.html

[Adam]

I can't wait for this to come to the UK.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

 

I thought I read somewhere that the PPVs will be uncut. Two questions:

1.) Will the aftermath from Owen's fall be shown? A better question is will they even offer that PPV?

2.) Will they show the WCW matches with an unmasked Rey?

 

I really think they have to. I mean, if they blur his face or something I would imagine the outrage, plus, It takes about 2 seconds for the average kid with an iPad, Laptop, or mobile device to go into google and type in "Rey Mysterio unmasked". I would think WWE would realize it's 2014 and information is everywhere, so here's hoping

 

No way does the Owen PPV show up.

[AlfredoE]

I'm sure they can get some video editing maestro to edit in Rey Mysterio's mask into these PPVs.

[Adam]

Now all I can think about is Rey wrestling and a static image of his mask just hovers over his face, moves when he moves and never ever changes. And it's hilarious.

[Kevin Wilson]

Yea I'd put a 0% chance of any of Over the Edge 1999 showing up, but I can't think of any other event they wouldn't show.  What about the "Jesse Ventura" issue, was this ever resolved?  Be a shame if the commentary is edited on the older WWF/WCW PPVs.

[Jiji]

Yea I'd put a 0% chance of any of Over the Edge 1999 showing up, but I can't think of any other event they wouldn't show.  What about the "Jesse Ventura" issue, was this ever resolved?  Be a shame if the commentary is edited on the older WWF/WCW PPVs.

Good point. I forgot about that and Ventura was so money on commentary.

[tlk23]

If 1 million people paid to watch Wrestlemania 29, I don't see why 1 million people wouldn't pay to see Wrestlemania 30 for the same price, plus EVERYTHING else that comes with the Network. Even on a conservative estimate of let's say, half of last years WM buyers opt for the Network this year, that's still 500,000 people.

 

 

WM 29 only had around 650K buys in the US last year, so you are going to need a few 100K more to sign up for the network than those that ordered WM the last few years.

[Brian Fowler]

IIRC the deal with Ventura is that they can use full shows with him, but not individual matches.

[Petey]

 

www.wwe.com/inside/9-facts-you-need-to-know-about-wwe-network-26175464/

 

This clears up the Raw and Smackdown! replays.

I love how this says that all WCW PPVs will be available, seeming to imply that Nitros aren't, and then it goes and mentions that you'll get to see the fingerpoke of doom.  I fucking hate it when companies don't edit their shit, and the WWE is one of the worst at it.

 

It also mentions "The Night the Line Was Crossed" which while it was a large ECW event, wasn't a PPV. It makes me wonder if they're just going to put up all the large ECW events that made it to tape from their pre-PPV era.

 

As far as editing chair shots and the like from the Attitude Era, WWE's mentioned multiple times that the Attitude Era stuff would be shown uncut and uncensored. It's even mentioned in the quoted article. I mean, if it wasn't edited for Classics on Demand, I don't see why they'd create more work for themselves and edit it now. In fact, the only stuff I recall them editing from Classics (aside from theme dubbings and stuff due to licensing), is language, Austin flipping the bird, choking and in the case of WCW, Benoit references.

[BNosanchuk]

IIRC the deal with Ventura is that they can use full shows with him, but not individual matches.

So they could use entire PPVs/TVs with him on commentary, but they can't take and use a Bret Hart match he did commentary on and use it on a Hart DVD (or something similar?) 

[Brian Fowler]

Something to that effect.

[Petey]

That all sounds about right. I feel like that's no longer the case though for some reason, or at least wasn't the case with Classics on Demand.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Why are we only factoring in viewership in the United States? The Network is going to launch around the world by the end of the year/start of 2015. It's not 3.8 million people who watch WWE programming, that is only in the U.S. There are many many more around the world. If 800K is the break even point, I can see them doing that in world subscriptions. If they lose money the first year, so what. I still think this is a sound, progressive idea. Cable is dying in this country. Don't believe me, check the numbers. That's another reason too why WWE should see a nice gain in their television contract..  Live programming is more important now than ever before. They are a reliable product. NASCAR got what they got.. because these networks are desperate. WWE probably won't get NASCAR money but it should be significantly more than where they are.

[S.K.o.S.]

There hasn't been any talk yet here of what this does to the indies.  The EVOLVE iPPV that I watched last night cost $15, which is a perfectly reasonable price, and I personally would pay it again in the future, but it starts to seem like a lot less of a bargain now.  And maybe it's not even a matter of value for money.  Maybe some people will be much less interested in seeing what's out there on the indies when they're already full up on wrestling from the all-you-can-eat buffet that the network is gonna be.

 

Whoever writes EVOLVE's e-mail updates (Gabe?  I dunno) had a few paragraphs on this the other day, comparing WWE to Wal-Mart.  And that's not to demonize them, but they're a huge company who has decided to throw their weight around and change the price points on things in a significant way.  It's a very apt comparison.  They recognize that the reason WWE is doing this is to make themselves money on the TV rights, not to put the indies out of business, but it's still going to have a big effect.

 

In the end, they said "We've just got to be that much better now."  Hopefully, competition will be a positive thing for as many people as possible.  It did make me feel like I have more of a responsibility to keep supporting their product (and if I got worked, so be it).

[Antacular]

If 1M is the TOTAL they need, including foreign subscribers, then yes, I think there's a chance they can hit 1M once it launches outside the U.S. I don't think it's guaranteed, but it's possible. Domestically though, the numbers just aren't there.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

If 1M is the TOTAL they need, including foreign subscribers, they yes, I think there's a good chance they can hit 1M once it launches outside the U.S. Domestically though, the numbers just aren't there.

At the risk of being considered a hypocrite...

 

You are boring the fuck out of me in this thread. And I'm a fan of your work elsewhere.

[Antacular]

Now you know why I generally stay out of this forum.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

I would too, but frankly it's the best way to maintain my healthy post count.

[Antacular]

You misjudge your fans cravings for more deep insights into UFC buyrates. Next time I want seperate posts for both the geomean AND arithmatic mean.

[kiguchi]

Do you think there would eventually be options to search and watch certain matches only? If I suddenly get the urge to watch the ladder match from WM X, it would be great if you can search for it and then the link takes you directly to time the match starts, sort of like with youtube.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

You misjudge your fans cravings for more deep insights into UFC buyrates. Next time I want seperate posts for both the geomean AND arithmatic mean.

I reread that conversation the next day and I was still blown away by stupid he was.

[Greggulator]

Why are we only factoring in viewership in the United States? The Network is going to launch around the world by the end of the year/start of 2015. It's not 3.8 million people who watch WWE programming, that is only in the U.S. There are many many more around the world. If 800K is the break even point, I can see them doing that in world subscriptions. If they lose money the first year, so what. I still think this is a sound, progressive idea. Cable is dying in this country. Don't believe me, check the numbers. That's another reason too why WWE should see a nice gain in their television contract..  Live programming is more important now than ever before. They are a reliable product. NASCAR got what they got.. because these networks are desperate. WWE probably won't get NASCAR money but it should be significantly more than where they are.

 

WWE's demographics destroys NASCAR. NASCAR isn't anywhere near as popular as one would think. NASCAR's attendance has dropped so precipitously over the years that it no longer reveals attendance figures. The excuse is that a lot of publicly traded companies own a good amount of the tracks and the attendance is a forward-guidance. Of course, when tracks were drawing in 100K per race as opposed to 45, they weren't worried about reporting regulations.

 

NASCAR got a huge TV deal and it only had a few years of a track record showing success. NASCAR thought it could expand nationally and moved races from a lot of their classic tracks to cities like Chicago and Phoenix. It had that national appeal for a little bit of time but it was a fad. It's core audience is still very much Southern and blue-collar and getting older. Those are people who were hit very hard by The Great Recession and haven't quite come back.

 

The one thing NASCAR does have an advantage for is brand loyalty. NASCAR fans have this ridiculous percentage of people who can identify sponsors and racers. That's very attractive to companies who use the cars essentially as a flying billboard for a few hours a week. That translates to television -- Jeff Gordon doing Subway ads -- but the struggling TV ratings still make it struggling.

The WWE has three decades of history as a proven live event. The only live event that does better is football and -- sometimes -- the NBA playoffs. Nothing comes close to football in America. The NBA has some of the highest profile and recognizable athletes in the world -- LeBron James, Kobe, etc. The WWE, though, is right there on those lines. And it's demographics are so big and varied. It's an absolutely sterling television property.

It's a different idea because it's regional but look at what baseball teams get for broadcast rights. The Phillies just got $250 million for 20-years. Their ratings are insanely good when the team wins but when they struggle they're beneath Raw. That's for a Comcast affiliate that broadcasts to the fourth biggest metro area in the country. A product like the WWE can get $250 million for a far less period of time.