Does anyone know why the always show the PPV Kickoff shows after the PPV on the live stream instead of the other way around? Is it just so people know it's a replay?

Stuff that was first on Classics may need to be re-edited (de-edited?) for The Network which I think means pretty much starting from scratch (it did seem that there was a bunch of stuff edited on CoD that hasn't been edited on The Network, like Benoit mentions and being able to say WWF).

 

Ah, I didn't realize that the previous CoD footage had been scrubbed in such a way. That makes sense.

My big issue with the WWE Network is who is the target audience?

 

The big draw I see is for current, upcoming PPVs & all past PPVs.

 

Personally, I've seen all the past PPVs, when they happened. The current PPVs for $10 is a nice QOL improvement from having to d/l the day after or find a (low quality) stream. It seems like a lot of current Network subscribers are people that were already watching everything online anyway.

 

Do fans of the current product clamor to see past PPVs? Do people in other regions not just stream the Network now via watching online Streams like we used to do with PPVs?

 

I guess I just don't see a whole lot of growth potential but then again, I don't know anything about business. The number can't realistically go down by opening it up to the planet, I would assume but that's going to cost a lot more money to make happen, right?

There's a new slot on the live stream called "Video Vault" that's just random matches, starting with one from SummerSlam 88. What's the betting they start adding this to the VOD library even though it's completely redundant if it's PPV matches?

There's a new slot on the live stream called "Video Vault" that's just random matches, starting with one from SummerSlam 88. What's the betting they start adding this to the VOD library even though it's completely redundant if it's PPV matches?

 

I mentioned it earlier in the thread. It's a cool concept if they do matches that aren't already available on the VOD service.

Or if they're not going to give me my chapter readings or a workable search function, the video vault will be an easy way to jump into a match (though I realize the benefit of this will be limited to only the likely few matches they put in the vault).

"Probably less risk on the WWE's part. If we compare ratios for Network viewing/RAW audiences in the US and apply them to Canada, they'd probably be looking at 50,000-60,000 subscribers in Canada via the web, which probably wouldn't be worth the cost."

 

What cost?

 

My cost assumptions are things like any start-up, infrastructure and operational costs with having the network in Canada under the set-up it is in the U.S. With the relatively sparse population/market in Canada, if those costs are high, then going that route may not be the wisest, business-wise if Canadian subscriptions aren't all that and a bag of chips.

 

Instead, they signed a deal with Rogers, who'll be responsible for the platform and set-up of the Network. WWE likely got their money already and are sitting pretty. Everything is up to Rogers' execution and performance now.

 

Vince's "they do things differently in Canada" line gave me a chuckle, but because of how a couple telecoms dominate the market and one that has all things WWE, he's not wrong with that, as opposed to how things are in the States.

There's a new slot on the live stream called "Video Vault" that's just random matches, starting with one from SummerSlam 88. What's the betting they start adding this to the VOD library even though it's completely redundant if it's PPV matches?

 

Whoever had "immediately" in the pool wins, I guess:

 

http://network.wwe.com/shows/vault/video-vault

 

Hopefully, they'll add stuff here that we don't already have on the service, but leading off with the SummerSlam 88 main event isn't an encouraging sign.

So I wonder what the spin will be for the large number of cancels. I'm betting either A: people only signed up to get Wrestlemania for $10 or B: lapsed Attitude Era fans signed up only to cancel when nothing from that time frame was being added.

Which is worse for WWE in terms of perception: Lots of people deciding to find a way to cancel or lots of people having to use using gift or debit cards that had less than $9.99 on them when WWE charged them again?

The latter. They are much better off suggesting that their customers are young and savvy,

The latter could also suggest your customers are so poor they have to use gift cards and/or low balance debit cards. That would be a sore point for a company that just fell short of expected TV revenues because the consensus your audience are all poor dullards.

Either I'm missing something or have screwed up the maths, but the "now we can break even at 500,000 subscribers" doesn't add up at all.

Moving from 1.4m breakeven to 500k breakeven means 900,000 fewer subscribers. 900,000 fewer subscribers at $120 a year means $108,000 less in total revenue. If WWE is taking 85% or whatever of each subscription payment, that's a drop in revenue of nearly $100 million. How is that covered by cost cutting of $30 million?

Where does the 30 million come from?

Dave said on the Breaking News audio that the plan was cutting $10 million this year and $30 million next year.

I first saw it in Dave's recap:

 

"There will be massive cost cutting internally. These costs will save the company $10 million this year and $30 million in 2015."

 

Edit: Didn't see Sek's post.

For people in my age bracket, it really is similar to having unlimited access to a video store that happens to have every pay-per-view ever. But a generation has grown up with video stores becoming a dying medium, so that would be an awful selling point.

Also, they should send collection agencies after people who cancelled. They violated the TOS by canceling early. They should go get their money.

There's the saying that the customer is always right, but I hate the modern sense of entitlement, generally speaking. And I hate to do finger-pointing, but I feel like anyone who loves wrestling and is sharing a password is also doing something to actively destroy wrestling. Yeah, do that, and if everyone acts just like you, eventually there won't be a WWE Network. You are part of the problem, because you're helping send a message to WWE that the network is a bad idea when it's actually a great idea. There are problems with the execution of it for sure, but giving WWE any reason to think this was a wasted endeavor and they should go back to their old model is really bad.

 

EDIT: And I realize there are definitely hypocritical points I'm making, for reasons we don't need to get into in this topic. But damnit, that's my take on this, rational or not.

Just a thought: if they're going to have this as a proper cable channel TV in Canada, they're going to need pull their finger out with updating the schedule. Right this moment it's only available up till 4am on Monday. That's not going to fly with cable box EPGs and TiVo listings databases.

Also, they should send collection agencies after people who cancelled. They violated the TOS by canceling early. They should go get their money.

Er, what? Not sure if you're being serious, but pushing for collections, which damage the recipient's credit rating even if they pay up, over a grand total of $50 per person (assuming they bailed after the first month) would not only be a spectacular waste of time and resources, but it would also attract a ton of bad PR with fans and investors.

I was thinking more of a scenario where they sold the debt to a collection agency that would then pursue people for the money. The number of cancellations was significant enough that there's a lot of lost money there. Yes, it would be bad PR, but they are also well within their rights to do it. I think about other subscription/commitment-model businesses and can't think of any that don't collect when people bail early. Gyms do it all the time.

$50 x 130,000=$6,500,000. That's definitely a chunk of change worth going after. And, if those people didn't want their credit scores hurt then they shouldn't have violated the terms they agreed to when making the initial purchase.

Am surprised to read folks here either not renewing or are on fence. Despite issues I have had there is no doubt about sticking with Network myself. I want the Network to succeed so I would prefer folks who actually use it to pay for it. With the lump sum thing are we suppose to change our settings now? I get the monthly alerts that they have taken money from my Paypal account. Are they going to just take the lump sum next time around? I won't have a problem with them doing that but I don't want them charging me $20 either as if I was just going month to month.

1. WWE Network should and probably does have safeguards against too many people using the same account. When there were connection issues early on, I remember not being able to load a stream because I had "too many devices connected" (was probably switching between my Roku, PS3, PS4, etc. to get the damn thing working), and that was simply one person - me - trying to access my own account.

 

2. WWE sending a collection agency after people punishes the honest customers who've had a card expire, get cancelled, etc. Those are valid reasons for a subscription to lapse early, and those people shouldn't be penalized.