WWE Cancels Network in UK at Launch?

[Tired]

The WWE has already cancelled the launch of the WWE Network in the UK... just 20 minutes before it was supposed to go live.

The WWE released an official statement this evening but did not give a reason why. The only confirmed information is that it would be launched at a later date, but there was no speculation as to when. Several dirt sheet sites from citing reasons ranging from technical issues to poor subscription rates in the U.S. Just like in America, the WWE has been poor at getting important information to the public. One example is that the WWE would not even reveal the actual price of subscribing, noting that it would be $9.99 US Dollars per month, but not given the UK price.

The WWE Network has caused nothing but headaches for the WWE. The first problem is that the original version of the subscription only channel was repeatedly delayed. During that time, they have been hit with various lawsuits and injunctions regarding their extensive back catalogue. Then when the Network was ready, they wouldn't give a clear subscription price or details on what fans would be getting. Despite promises of airing un-edited and uncensored footage, fans quickly spotted that this was not the case. One of the biggest selling points of the Network was that all WWE pay-per-views would be included for free, but the live feed often cut out.

The latest nightmare is that the WWE has discovered just how much money they have lost because of the Network. They believed that they could reach 1 million subscribers within 3 months, but they were barely half-way there. They extended the deadline to 6 months, and they are still far off. What is more alarming is that over 300,000 people cancelled their subscriptions. If this was not the case, then the Network would have just met their target.

 

[FTW JMe]

Absolute joke. At this rate, the network will probably be cancelled before it reaches the UK. It'll be interesting to see if Sky has anything to do with these delays.

 

[wwefan4life2]

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>FTW JMe</dt><dd>Nov 4 2014, 01:16:04 PM</dd></dl><div>Absolute joke. At this rate, the network will probably be cancelled before it reaches the UK. It'll be interesting to see if Sky has anything to do with these delays.[/quote]WWE says they do, Sky Sports say they do not. That is usually how these things go.

 

[Tired]

That seems to be the direction that most of the dirt sheets are taking this too. It could be true though.

Sky has been getting screwed by the WWE over the last few years. Sky pays a fortune to have exclusivity over WWE shows and pay-per-views broadcast in the UK, and the fee jumps every 6 months. The UK has stricter laws about how much advertising can be shown in one hour. With all of the product placement and advertising that happens during WWE shows, it limits how many commercials Sky can show during breaks. Sky often has to replace commercial time with old matches to avoid breaking UK guidelines. This means that Sky cannot accept too many paying advertisers during WWE shows, and are not making much money from the point. And all WWE programming is doing poorly right now. So Sky struggles to break even.

Once the WWE Network is up and running, Sky loses exclusivity. However, the WWE signed a multi-year deal with Sky, so this may not be resolved for some time.

One thing that really annoys Sky is that TNA Wrestling and British wrestling news shows are doing nearly as well as WWE shows. Even though these are shown on a lesser known digital channel.

 

[Deleted User]

Aparently it was Sky that pulled the plug on the network, not WWE.

 

[Maximo]

Challenge Is free.

Remember most of the country still had only 4 (5 if you were lucky) channels till half a decade ago.

We had wrestling on ITV (our 3rd free channel) for decades then WWF Heat free on Channel 4 and WCW on Channel "losing signal" 5.
(excluding the freesat channels due to signal issues for many people, I miss The Wrestling Channel)

The amount of times I have seen people with Sky Sports is low.
They've had cheaper alternatives (BT, Virgin, Freesat, internet, pub)
Or a blue screen for Sky Sports.

People don't want to spend £24.50 extra* a month on just WWE shows (excluding PPVs) when they could get unlimited internet, a cheap phoneline and a digitial TV for the same price or less.

Sky and WWE are delusional keeping the relationship still going and wondering why their losing money in the UK.

*That is excluding having to pay SKY how ever much their "cheap" bundles are per month.