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May Wrestling |OT2| We watch it so you don't have to

B

Bluekaveli

Member
FallingEdge said:
kuQNFXR.jpg


LMAOOOOO
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I don't get this
 
S

Sweeney Tom

Banned
Sweeney Tom said:
WWE deals expiration dates:
USA TV - 3rd quarter 2019
UK TV - 4th quarter 2019
India TV - 4th quarter 2019
Daniel Bryan - August or September 2018
Click to expand...

Talk about well timing, PWInsider just put up a good article talking about said deal expiration.

At the most recent investors conference call, WWE management was asked about the status of negotiations towards a new television rights deal as their current contract with NBC Universal expires in 2019. Smartly, they declined to make a statement.

I say smartly because in the period leading up to the announcement of the last contract back in 2014, Vince McMahon famously guaranteed that the company would double the amount of money that they were getting from the terms that they were currently working under. Of course, that didn’t happen and the WWE stock took a large hit when the new deal was announced since part of the run up that the stock had was attributed to the promised jump in revenue rights fees. So, it makes a lot of sense to not contract another case of foot-in-mouth disease if it can be avoided. But, it’s also smart to keep from commenting because the cable television world is changing at such an alarming pace that predicting two months into the future can be difficult, let alone two years.

Even under the best of circumstances, the negotiations with NBC Universal would be a battle. Under much better circumstances in 2014, WWE couldn’t come close to doubling their rights fees. The landscape in the cable industry is, to be honest, a minefield. Cable networks are being hit hard from a number directions. Obviously, cord cutting has become a major problem for the industry. Even when they keep customers via streaming, they don’t generate the revenue that they did from having that content viewed by cable subscribers. For those that don’t care enough to get a service like Sling TV, there is no revenue to be had at all from the cutters unless they purchase their channel directly. More and more people are happy to pay for Netflix and/or Hulu Plus, and then use and old school antenna to get the broadcast networks for free. In the old days, people had to see shows in “real time”. Now they are happy to wait and binge on whole seasons well after the fact. And of course, there are the gaming options that allow people to create their own entertainment, on their own terms. All of these things are taking aim at cable programming.

As we have seen with ESPN, in particular, the loss of cable subscribers has directly affected the bottom line and massive cuts throughout the company, including long-time on-air talent, have been massive. They are creating a new normal in Bristol and the pain has been felt far and wide. Their main issue came from the massive amounts that they have paid in rights fees for various sporting events. It is harder to make that money back when less people are paying (via their cable bill) to watch, or not watch, ESPN. A la carte programming is allowing the people that don’t want ESPN to no longer have to pay the $9 dollars a month or so that ESPN charges. ESPN is the extreme example, but the bottom line is as people cut the cord, revenue disappears. That has an affect on what programmers will pay for content.

If that were the only issue, WWE would probably be still standing on solid footing, but there are a few other items that could work against them as negotiations with NBC Universal near.

For one thing, back in 2014, USA Network was still creating new hit shows and being the top rated Basic Cable Network was very important to them. Adding in the strong, weekly viewership of Raw was a great strategic move to help them achieve that goal, at a very affordable price. Their original programming plus the WWE audience often meant that they won the race. Since then, they haven’t been creating the hits that they used to. They moved Smackdown to Tuesdays as a concession to that fact. If they were to change their philosophy, and choose to reset their strategy, WWE programming could be worth less to them. Maybe a lot less.

But the bigger problem that WWE has to face when dealing with NBC is one that they have completely created: Themselves. NBC could very well feel that WWE has not lived up to their end of the deal and take a hard line approach when it comes to negotiations. Why you ask?

For the sake of comparison the 5/12/14 Raw, which was the show before WWE announced that new deal in 2014, did 4,006,000 overnight viewers. By contrast, the second May Raw of 2017 did overnight 2,696,000 viewers. For you math types, that is a drop of 33% of people watching Raw. While WWE didn’t double their rights fees as they promised that they would, their sales pitch that WWE was “DVR proof” programming since people wanted to watch it in real time did garner them a significant increase from NBC Universal. And that increase was rewarded by losing almost a third of the viewers that were supposed to be “DVR proof”. The worst part is that the company itself, with it’s predictable booking and stale presentation, are the primary reason that the product has become DVRable! They did it to themselves.

I can’t state this for a fact but I think it’s reasonable to assume that NBC Universal didn’t pay more money for less viewers. That isn’t how business works. When you add in that the main reason that the viewers have left is due completely due to the people that told you that they wouldn’t? That could create some animus.

So in two years, WWE very well may find itself in a position where it could be facing a reduced offer from NBC, or worse. In this climate, it may be hard to even find other bidders that are willing to pay what they are getting now. After all, in 2014 NBCU put the best offer on the table and it was far less than what Vince McMahon wanted.

WWE is mature product and in the TV industry, that often works against a program. When one adds in the concerning loss of viewers, it makes a mature product an even harder sell for top dollar. There’s a real possibility that USA may tell WWE we want to work with you, but you need to take a pay cut (and if that happens PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get rid of that third hour of Raw, for all of our sakes). It’s possible they could just walk away altogether. If either happens, it seems pretty obvious that WWE’s top revenue producer, television rights fees, would take a major hit. And that would affect the company.

At that point, their options would be limited. They could look for another partner, most probably for less money. Or they could take it in-house on the WWE Network and create a tiered pricing model where they sell you a subscription to Raw and Smackdown and they sell advertising on the programs and keep what they sell. There is no guarantee that they could even come close to making up for the lost revenue with either option.

Neither of those options is better than what they have in place now. To me, the best way to not have to make the decision as to which fork in the road that you have to take is to make sure you never have to make the decision. The company still has time to bail water from the ship to keep it from going down. It would require a commitment to changing up the predictable way that they do business immediately. If they want to avoid coming to that unwanted fork, the time to make changes is now. If they don’t, this time in 2019 could be really scary for them.
Click to expand...

#5Years team looking safe so far, especially with that last paragraph
 
S

Slizz

Member
The Fire Pro announcements were underwhelming. No Early Access yet either.


That being said, just had 13 minute barbed wire deathmatch. Stevie Richards vs. JBL. JBL took forever to get down.
 
S

serenewarfare

Banned
http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/st...s-wolf-makes-her-women-honor-debut-best-world

Across the Pacific, STARDOM has established itself as the premier women’s professional wrestling organization in the world. In March, Women of Honor and STARDOM partnered together for a tryout camp and a partnership was formed. In Lowell, MA at Best in the World Weekend, international superstar and current STARDOM HIGH SPEED CHAMPION KRIS WOLF makes her Women of Honor debut!
Click to expand...

Super cool. Good move by ROH.
 
M

Menome

Member
HashtagLapsed said:
Apparently they just called Vince Russo back so~~~

It is lucky for All that there is great wrestling products outside WWE.
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Just saying that even after losing that Spike TV contract because of Russo, when a bunch of us were convinced it couldn't last another week at times, it still kept going.

And that's from a promotion that couldn't even pay its workers, let alone a company that still has ridiculous amounts of money behind it like WWE.
 
S

serenewarfare

Banned
Sweeney Tom said:
Talk about well timing, PWInsider just put up a good article talking about said deal expiration.



#5Years team looking safe so far, especially with that last paragraph
Click to expand...

This article misses the fact that USA Network has tanked hard since they signed the last deal in 2014. I mean, it touches on it, but I think it takes the wrong lesson from it. USA not being able to make any hits makes them more likely to accept WWE's decline and still pay them, not less. WWE is still by far the highest rated thing they have.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
Sweeney Tom said:
Talk about well timing, PWInsider just put up a good article talking about said deal expiration.



#5Years team looking safe so far, especially with that last paragraph
Click to expand...

I told you mother fuckers. I told you.


Good fucking luck with those next TV negotiations when you're doing less than 2 million viewers for Raw every week.

Lower TV deal = cutting talent, no longer able to pay part timers the big bucks = mainstream audiences give even LESS of a fuck about WWE = carny fucks go out of business in 5 years
 
F

Foggy

Member
serenewarfare said:
This article misses the fact that USA Network has tanked hard since they signed the last deal in 2014. I mean, it touches on it, but I think it takes the wrong lesson from it. USA not being able to make any hits makes them more likely to accept WWE's decline and still pay them, not less. WWE is still by far the highest rated thing they have.
Click to expand...

They would pay them less because they can and they ultimately have the leverage. Any savvy exec could push the network to pursue reality tv and shit like that to pull the exact same ratings. Just because they're reliable doesn't mean they're not expendable. USA is in a tough situation meaning they could pivot in a big way towards different models of programming. It happens in tv all the time.
 
S

serenewarfare

Banned
Anth0ny said:
I told you mother fuckers. I told you.


Good fucking luck with those next TV negotiations when you're doing less than 2 million viewers for Raw every week.

Lower TV deal = cutting talent, no longer able to pay part timers the big bucks = mainstream audiences give even LESS of a fuck about WWE = carny fucks go out of business in 5 years
Click to expand...

TNA has been in business for almost fifteen goddamn years and you think WWE is dying in five?

Foggy said:
They would pay them less because they can and they ultimately have the leverage. Any savvy exec could push the network to pursue reality tv and shit like that to pull the exact same ratings. Just because they're reliable doesn't mean they're not expendable. USA is in a tough situation meaning they could pivot in a big way towards different models of programming. It happens in tv all the time.
Click to expand...

They could. Hypothetically. But the more likely thing is they take a small cut because both sides know they need the other. Even most middle of the road reality TV (which make no mistake is what USA Network puts out) doesn't do nearly the numbers WWE is still doing now.

Now of course this all changes if they just keep hemorrhaging viewers. But if we are judging them at their current level, I find it very hard to believe NBCU would cut bait. It's still a mutually beneficial relationship.

And as for leverage, USA had it last time too and it still went how it did. The reason WWE took the USA deal in 2014 is because no one else was offering anything near it. And yet they still got that number.
 
F

Foggy

Member
When your leverage is only 2.5(and dropping) two nights a week, then this is not a "both sides need each other" situation. You just have to look at what beats Raw and Smackdown on the regular on cable. USA can easily replace that if they want to and if they've lost faith in the WWE's ability to bounce back.
 
S

Sweeney Tom

Banned
Anth0ny said:
I told you mother fuckers. I told you.


Good fucking luck with those next TV negotiations when you're doing less than 2 million viewers for Raw every week.

Lower TV deal = cutting talent, no longer able to pay part timers the big bucks = mainstream audiences give even LESS of a fuck about WWE = carny fucks go out of business in 5 years
Click to expand...

Speaking of bolded, one contract I failed to mention coming up:
Brock Lesnar - Mania 2018 last date

Foggy said:
They would pay them less because they can and they ultimately have the leverage. Any savvy exec could push the network to pursue reality tv and shit like that to pull the exact same ratings. Just because they're reliable doesn't mean they're not expendable. USA is in a tough situation meaning they could pivot in a big way towards different models of programming. It happens in tv all the time.
Click to expand...

Yep! A thing many people forget: despite its ratings consistently being so low and at a standstill it became a meme at one point, at the time they were kicked out TNA was the biggest ratings machine on Spike, and it wasn't really even close. Same thing happened when they were kicked off Destination America, I believe (could be wrong on that one, I admit. I remember some ghost show temporarily coming close at one point)
 
H

HashtagLapsed

Member
Menome said:
Just saying that even after losing that Spike TV contract because of Russo, when a bunch of us were convinced it couldn't last another week at times, it still kept going.

And that's from a promotion that couldn't even pay its workers, let alone a company that still has ridiculous amounts of money behind it like WWE.
Click to expand...

It is well known TNA still existing is more of a fluke than anything. Thr Gods only have so many boons to hand out to each business. Pro wrestling's hamingja is near dry.

I'm only fucking around. Although the #5years camp seems to be moving up the card.


Cosmozone said:
Nooo, Satomura's mystique..!
Click to expand...

Haha, I kinda thought similarly.
 
S

serenewarfare

Banned
Foggy said:
When your leverage is only 2.5(and dropping) two nights a week, then this is not a "both sides need each other" situation. You just have to look at what beats Raw and Smackdown on the regular on cable. USA can easily replace that if they want to and if they've lost faith in the WWE's ability to bounce back.
Click to expand...

Even with WWE as low as it is, only like two or three things beat Raw and SD every week on cable, and USA is not getting live sports (other then I guess they could show hockey) so basically their only chance is to endlessly crank out reality TV and hope one of them hits. That's not a formula for success. Especially not if they alternative is something that draws 2.5 million viewers twice a week.
 
H

Hasney

Member
Nia Jax ✔ @NiaJaxWWE
Wow! First ever Money in the Bank Women's Ladder Match! Amazing how #SmackdownLive uses their ENTIRE women roster every Tuesday
 
H

HashtagLapsed

Member
More seriously, if WWE does keep losing viewers, which they probably will, it will be hard to get them back.

People dont usually lapse for a few months. Its usually years. Im not sure how they would convince people who left in disgust to come back.
 
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