Wrestling on Pay-Per-View (and Maybe DVD) Just Went the Way of the Dinosaur
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To all those who think even one wrestling post a week is too much, beg pardon. The ramifications of this apply to many other brands as well.
At CES, WWE just announced the WWE Network – an online network with 24/7 live-streaming programming and on-demand archival content, including – at launch – every WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view show ever. It’s basically their own dedicated Netflix.
Those $60/month pay-per-view events? Included in the price. Which is $9.99 a month (minimum 6-month commitment). Older events are supposedly uncut and uncensored…though we’ll see. It no longer makes any financial sense to buy the DVDs or the pay-per-views, when this service is available on every Internet-compatible device.
Imagine other brands doing this. CBS News making available every CBS News show ever, for example. MTV doing the same. Adult Swim? Perhaps. Disney’s using Netflix in a similar way, but imagine everything Disney owns, available at all times online in one location. In an age of instant digital piracy, the “back in the vault” strategy no longer makes sense.
Also, Syfy fans? You may no longer have to be bothered with wrestling on your network.
Feb 24th, 11:09 EST (right after Raw) is when the network goes online, making WrestleMania 30 the first pay-per-view to air on it.
About The Author
Luke Y. Thompson has been writing professionally about movies and pop-culture since 1999, and has also been an actor in some extremely cheap culty and horror movies you will probably never hear much about (he is nonetheless mostly proud of them, as he met his wife on one). As editor of The Robot's Voice since 2012, he can take the blame for the majority of the site's content, all of which he creates because he loves you very, very much. (Although he loves nachos more. Sorry.) Prior to TRV, Luke wrote for publications that include the New Times LA, Los Angeles CityBeat, E! Online, OC Weekly, Geekweek, GeekChicDaily, The L.A. Times, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Nerdist