Since 2014, WWE have held all of its pay-per-views or now newly-named premium live events on their own streaming platform. The WWE Network is their version of Netflix and with a click of a button, you can watch almost every episode of RAW, SmackDown, NXT and their biggest shows of the year such as WrestleMania. Worldwide, their network subscriptions have totalled up to 1.5 million at points at a price point of £9.99 a month in the UK or $9.99 a month in the United States.
In early 2021, WWE announced that they had sold the rights to the WWE network in the U.S to media giant NBC Universal and their content will migrate to NBC own streaming platform Peacock. The cost of the deal is $1 Billion over 5 years, earning WWE $200million a year. Stephanie McMahon told CNBC:
“At the end of the day, we’re not a technology company and shouldn’t try to be, We are a content company at our core, and we want to do what we do best.”
“It’s a big win for WWE,” media rights expert Dan Cohen told CNBC “The price point comes down so you hope that subscribers and eyeballs go up. They got out of the technology space and don’t have to keep maintaining and updating tech which changes every minute.”
With this in mind, questions have been asked about the future of the WWE Network around the world. Will WWE sell their rights abroad to other streaming platforms? In the United Kingdom, it’s possible that a big factor in the process has already begun. The U.K. media rights to WWE’s flagship shows, RAW and SmackDown are shown live, exclusively on BT Sport. But BT are looking to offload their TV channel and media rights they own and streaming service DAZN looks set to purchase BT Sport in an $800million deal.
According to a Reuters report, DAZN is backed by billionaire investor Len Blavatnik and has sought to capitalize on the enduring popularity of sports, bankrolling a streaming service that would give fans around the world access to live events. DAZN now has 11 million worldwide subscribers according to one person familiar with the company. One stumbling block for the deal is proving to be securing agreements with rights holders in addition to Comcast Corp’s Sky and Virgin Media, which distribute BT Sport’s programming on television in the UK and Ireland.
What does this mean for WWE Network? Well with the DAZN model being a streaming service, they will own the media rights to WWE and will most likely be available to view on their service. With WWE now available on a much bigger streaming platform in the U.K, it’s would be competitive for DAZN to add another market to their platform just like Peacock did in the U.S. Purchasing the WWE Network for the UK market would bring a new audience to their service and will help their subscription numbers and annual income.
With DAZN buying BT Sport there has never been a bigger opportunity for WWE to potentially sell the network rights in the UK. DAZN will continue to look into how they can compete with other streaming companies and Sky TV to gain more of a market share and the WWE network might be the answer in gaining that.
DAZN are reportedly now “nearing” a deal to buy BT Sport for an estimated $800million, which would give them Premier League and Champions League rights. [According to @Reuters]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 12, 2022
Pic courtesy of WWE and WWE Network