LionDen
09-13-2014, 12:41 AM
The New York Post has a story today talking about how WWE is monitoring how The WWE Network does as a traditional channel in Canada to gauge whether it is worth trying to market the product similarly elsewhere. George Barrios was asked about it and said, “We love the over-the-top model. It’s a great business model for us.” But he did add, “We have a phrase here: ‘Approach your job like it’s the first day on the job.’ We say that because it’s so easy to get locked in to things you create.” I don’t expect WWE to scrap their streaming model but if they could cut a deal where they were also carried as a cable channel, I am sure they would consider it.
WWE test may spark US premium cable play
http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/vince_mcmahon.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1
WWE boss Vince McMahon, while pressing ahead in hopes of turning around the disappointing start of his six-month-old streaming network, has still not shut the door completely on adopting a premium cable-TV network in the US, The Post has learned.
McMahon, the WWE’s chairman and chief executive, is keeping an eye on a little-publicized partnership with Canadian cable giant Rogers Communications to see if it holds the secret to distribution gold, a company executive said.
Under a 10-year deal with the WWE, Rogers recently launched an C$11.99 ($10.90US) a month HBO-like premium cable channel in Canada featuring a full WWE library.
While the wrestling entertainment giant remains confident the pace of subscriber sign-ups will pick up, it is keeping an eye on the Rogers rollout.
“We love the over-the-top model,” George Barrios, WWE’s chief strategy and financial officer, said in a telephone interview with The Post. “It’s a great business model for us.”
Yet Barrios also recognizes just how adventurous WWE has always been and continues to be.
“We have a phrase here: ‘Approach your job like it’s the first day on the job.’ We say that because it’s so easy to get locked in to things you create.”
The WWE mind-set is to keep moving forward, in other words, even if doing so could be interpreted as a step back.
And that’s how some observers would most likely see any future alignment between WWE and domestic pay TV.
Closer to the truth, however, would be how much pay TV has changed.
A few years ago, when WWE was trying to negotiate partnerships with US cable players, the process proved so frustrating and time-consuming that, to quote Barrios, “We finally said, ‘We gotta go.’ ”
Since then, the over-the-top model has become much more threatening to the pay-TV ecosystem.
And, as a result, appreciation for premium channels such as WWE and HBO to sustain the pay-TV model has significantly increased.
Whether it has increased enough for WWE to replicate its Rogers deal with major US players remains to be seen.
Partnering with cable companies in an HBO-like distribution model can certainly be lucrative.
The C$11.99 monthly fee Rogers is charging is split between the partners.
While details weren’t released, one analyst, Robert Routh of National Alliance, said WWE could be getting 60 percent of the take.
Meanwhile, Rogers hopes WWE’s addition to its cable lineup reduces both churn and cord-cutting.
“It’s a worthy experiment,” said analyst Laura Martin, who covers WWE for Needham & Co. “It’s also smart to approach different geographies differently to find out what really works.”
This is the same WWE, after all, that in February launched what it calls the US’s “first-ever 24/7 streaming network.”
This is also the same WWE that last month took WWE Network — its over-the-top offering of classic wrestling matches, live events and more than 1,500 hours of video on demand — into 170 additional countries.
That being the case, it seems like a long shot that McMahon would scrap the streaming model.
But then Barrios seemed to keep that door open.
“We like partnering,” Barrios said. “We listen, and we’ll see where the future takes us.”
Original article can be found by clicking here (http://nypost.com/2014/09/10/wwe-test-may-spark-us-premium-cable-play/).
WWE test may spark US premium cable play
http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/vince_mcmahon.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1
WWE boss Vince McMahon, while pressing ahead in hopes of turning around the disappointing start of his six-month-old streaming network, has still not shut the door completely on adopting a premium cable-TV network in the US, The Post has learned.
McMahon, the WWE’s chairman and chief executive, is keeping an eye on a little-publicized partnership with Canadian cable giant Rogers Communications to see if it holds the secret to distribution gold, a company executive said.
Under a 10-year deal with the WWE, Rogers recently launched an C$11.99 ($10.90US) a month HBO-like premium cable channel in Canada featuring a full WWE library.
While the wrestling entertainment giant remains confident the pace of subscriber sign-ups will pick up, it is keeping an eye on the Rogers rollout.
“We love the over-the-top model,” George Barrios, WWE’s chief strategy and financial officer, said in a telephone interview with The Post. “It’s a great business model for us.”
Yet Barrios also recognizes just how adventurous WWE has always been and continues to be.
“We have a phrase here: ‘Approach your job like it’s the first day on the job.’ We say that because it’s so easy to get locked in to things you create.”
The WWE mind-set is to keep moving forward, in other words, even if doing so could be interpreted as a step back.
And that’s how some observers would most likely see any future alignment between WWE and domestic pay TV.
Closer to the truth, however, would be how much pay TV has changed.
A few years ago, when WWE was trying to negotiate partnerships with US cable players, the process proved so frustrating and time-consuming that, to quote Barrios, “We finally said, ‘We gotta go.’ ”
Since then, the over-the-top model has become much more threatening to the pay-TV ecosystem.
And, as a result, appreciation for premium channels such as WWE and HBO to sustain the pay-TV model has significantly increased.
Whether it has increased enough for WWE to replicate its Rogers deal with major US players remains to be seen.
Partnering with cable companies in an HBO-like distribution model can certainly be lucrative.
The C$11.99 monthly fee Rogers is charging is split between the partners.
While details weren’t released, one analyst, Robert Routh of National Alliance, said WWE could be getting 60 percent of the take.
Meanwhile, Rogers hopes WWE’s addition to its cable lineup reduces both churn and cord-cutting.
“It’s a worthy experiment,” said analyst Laura Martin, who covers WWE for Needham & Co. “It’s also smart to approach different geographies differently to find out what really works.”
This is the same WWE, after all, that in February launched what it calls the US’s “first-ever 24/7 streaming network.”
This is also the same WWE that last month took WWE Network — its over-the-top offering of classic wrestling matches, live events and more than 1,500 hours of video on demand — into 170 additional countries.
That being the case, it seems like a long shot that McMahon would scrap the streaming model.
But then Barrios seemed to keep that door open.
“We like partnering,” Barrios said. “We listen, and we’ll see where the future takes us.”
Original article can be found by clicking here (http://nypost.com/2014/09/10/wwe-test-may-spark-us-premium-cable-play/).