Back in February the WWE launched their streaming service, WWE Network. The subscription based service allows fans to watch a back catalog of wrestling which includes every Pay-Per-View event ever as well as a 24 hour channel of new programming and all new Pay-Per-View events for a monthly price of just $9.99.
When the service launched the UK fans were told that the service would come across the pond “sometime soon” and British wrestling fans were excited to find out that time was 8pm on Monday 3rd November 2014.
And the price was to remain at $9.99, which is £6.25 at the current exchange rate. That’s a pretty good price point for access to all that content, especially considering how much Sky Box Office charge for the PPV events on their own (£14.95).
So imagine the fans disappointment, frustration and outright anger when they saw this tweet just 21 minutes prior to the launch:
The launch of @WWENetwork in the U.K. has been delayed until further notice.
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) November 3, 2014
There has been no other statement regarding the matter, no clarification or apology. WWE.com does contain an extra sentence in their report, thanking the UK fans for “bearing with us”, but that’s all that’s been said so far.
The fans took to twitter, myself included, using the hashtag #WWENotwork to express their feelings on the matter. A lot of hate has been aimed at the WWE for this, so much so that they had to turn off the comments on their website article, but running underneath there’s a belief that it’s actually Sky that’s to blame.
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Sky have a contract with the WWE to show their programming up until 2019 and it’s believed that they are unhappy with the UK launch of the WWE Network due to the terms of this contract. Sky clearly has the UK broadcast rights to WWE, but is it possible they have the UK streaming rights too?
BT hold the UK rights to Major League Baseball and show games on their BT Sport and ESPN channels. You can watch them all on your TV, but if you try and log into BT Sport online and watch? You can’t, because MLB own the online streaming rights and the games are blacked out. I subscribe to MLB.tv and am able to watch any game any time I want online. I’ve heard of people who have a similar service for the NFL, GamePass. They’re also able to watch games through this service, bar any game that happens to be on Sky Sports which is blacked out.
Could it be that Sky have been savvy enough to tie up the online rights for any sporting (or sports entertainment) rights they have purchased over the years? Is this also why certain TV shows are on US Netflix but not it’s UK counterpart? What could the NFL example mean for the WWE Network?
I think that the WWE Network could go a couple of different ways in the UK. It may be we don’t see a launch until 2019 when the Sky deal ends and a new one is struck up, but I don’t think that this is too likely. We could see all PPV’s and Raw/SmackDown being blacked out, which is possible. Or we could see WWE remain strong and go ahead with a full launch after some tough negotiations. Who do you think would win in a Hell in a Cell match between Vince McMahon and Rupert Murdoch?
Let’s be honest, this deal is likely to be down to money. Sky charge £14.95 for WWE Pay-Per-View events, they’re not going to be happy that fans could get them (and all that other content) for £6.25 elsewhere. This has obviously been going on behind the scenes since the WWE announced the service back in January, with last nights setback just the latest twist in the tale. Just like Hulk Hogan, don’t expect this one to be done any time soon.
Update:
WWE have confirmed that the WWE Network will launch in the UK and Ireland on January 19th at a cost of £9.99. While this is more than previously mentioned it will include all Pay-Per-View events, starting with the Royal Rumble later this month.
One Response
Shit like this is what is causing problems for the network in Canada too. Rogers Cable holds the rights, and instead of us having access to the streaming network here. We instead have a half assed 24/7 channel. For an increased price.