WWE Network Delayed?

[Vegas]

WWE has launched a website encouraging fans to notify their television service provider of the WWE Network, www.iwantwwenetwork.com. The website features a countdown clock that will expire on April 1, 2012, the same day as WrestleMania XXVIII.

Edit: However, it looks like the link is invalid.

[LWPD]

This entire project is a real wildcard. The struggles of the Oprah Network show that a vehicle that has every conceivable advantage on paper, can flounder and fall apart even with star power and a seemingly flawless marketing strategy. In contrast to the Oprah launch, WWE will not have anywhere near the same level of mainstream acceptance or advertising support going into this. The company objectives were formally changed from cash accumulation and hefty dividend payouts, to growth and speculation. In other words, Vince isn't afraid to spend from his war chest or even take on debt. Even more so than with the movie division, cash can wind up being bled very quickly if they try to force feeds results that aren't going to materialize.

Dave Meltzer recently penned a good analysis on the state of the WWE Network. I wonder how many of the proposals below will ever see the light of day.

Courtesy of Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The current planned direction of the WWE Network was seemingly made clear this past week when the company on its web site, presented a series of show ideas they are thinking about.

Unlike in the past, when Vince McMahon was talking about doing his own network, with original programming that would not be wrestling related, with the idea that the initials WWE do not mean wrestling but were an entertainment brand, it appears the failure of the movie division and his own feeling of how Oprah�s network has failed has made him reevaluate that choice. The new plan, as he noted last week at the investors conference, is to do what they do best, which is wrestling. Well, sort of. As the ideas they are putting out involve reality shows and specialty shows featuring name wrestlers, but outside the wrestling setting. The backbone would be like the NFL Network, and networks that a number of major sports have put on, using the tape library and airing old shows. But this aspect would be a more modernized version of the 24/7 service, which never took off like they expected, but also has been modestly profitable. A full-blown network has a far greater upside, but the costs are gigantic in comparison, when you are talking about tens in millions in new production facilities and 150 to 200 new employees. And April, the planned start date, is a target that has people internally scared to death because it�s not far away and most of the hiring still hasn�t been done.

An interesting note regarding the challenges of doing this network were noted by John Carroll, who recently talked to the NHL�s Chief Operating Officer, John Collins, and discussed the challenges in doing the NHL Network, figuring that if cable systems clear the WWE Network, it would be put in a similar sports specialty tier and treated similar to the NHL and NBA Network.

Collins noted that the NHL Network was first cleared in the U.S. in 2007, and it took until 2009 to get significant clearances on cable systems. But he also noted that even though they had clearances by 2009, it wasn�t until earlier this year that they started getting any significant level of advertising revenue. For the first 18 months it was nothing by infomercials and advertising for in-house products. Most likely, the WWE Network at first will be filled with in-house ads and probably leverage its web sponsors to good deals to get in on the ground floor with the network, but those won�t generate significant revenue at first either.

While I would think a WWE Network would be more successful in getting viewers than an NHL Network, because wrestling is a stronger television property, that doesn�t mean it�ll do any better with advertisers since the NHL is believed to appeal to higher income audiences while virtually every study lists wrestling�s primary appeal to lower income audiences, plus even if that wasn�t the case, wrestling still has a negative stigma it hasn�t overcome. So it would seem, even if the company gets strong clearances, which is not a lock, you are talking about years before it is established enough to start generating ad revenue.

The company released these ideas for shows, based on using many of the biggest stars on their roster and taking advantage of their non-wrestling interests to provide a television vehicle:

1. Steve Austin and a refined beer expert go around the country visiting breweries, pubs and beer competitions each week. The idea is the two will go on a tour bus, they will let fans know where they are going to be so it�ll come off like it�s a big deal when they come to town, and meet pub owners, show how beer gets made, learn what foods with what beer and more. You get the sense they are looking for an �Odd Couple� traveling show, with Austin doing the role that is him as your beer drinker on the street (Oscar Madison, for those who remember the movie and Hit TV show from another era) and getting a stereotypical refined guy (Felix Unger) with him.

2. The Big Show and Bess Wight reality show, featuring their giant dogs who sleep in the same bed as they do. This idea was broached before as a Bess Wight cooking show, using Paul as her heavy eating husband. In this case, that will likely be a major focus of the show, as Bess Wight�s cooking will be a significant part of it, but that will only be part of this new idea. They will show the two of them traveling together on their tour bus, and the things Show goes through in life being 7 feet tall and whatever he weighs (which varies greatly based on the television show he�s on, in this one he�s billed at 500 pounds), and she will tell funny stories about the life of a giant. The feeling in both show ideas is that his wife has the potential to be a television star due to her look and personality and that this would be her vehicle perhaps more than his.

3. Mick Foley and family tour amusement parks and rate the roller coaster rides. They go to the park, meet fans, and eat at the park.

4. A takeoff on the television shows like �Ice Road Truckers� and �Deadliest Catch,� based on the WWE road crew. This follows the crew driving from city to city, setting up the production at the TV tapings. This would follow the lives of the crew both on the road and at home, and show what it takes to set up shows like Raw, Smackdown and the major PPV events, the backstage set up with the talent doing pre-tapes and getting ready for the show and the pyro crew. Actually I think this show would be interesting for a few episodes, but then the set-up is usually pretty much the same and what new can you show? The only way the show can last would be if they script personality conflicts and then it�s like most reality shows, all about personalities.

5. This has to be a Vince McMahon idea or someone presenting Vince with an idea knowing he�d bite. It�s the opposite of �The Biggest Loser.� This would be a show where skinny guys compete to see who can put on the most muscle and at the end get their dream girl. They would use WWE wrestlers to help the skinny guys with training and dieting tips. The problem here is that the quickest way to put on muscle mass is the artificial way, and if they don�t drug test (and I�m almost certain they would) it�s just going to naturally turn into a steroid show, and even if they do, gaining muscle mass in a short period of time is going to give someone with access of PEDs (many of which you can use even while testing) a huge competitive edge. 6. Middle-age fans get in the ring to train in the art of pro wrestling. This is like the fantasy camp idea that has been popular with baseball. They are taught in-ring, mic work and take bumps from wrestlers and go through training. Given they are older and not athletes like those in Tough Enough, you�ll see them gas out and such to provide stuff you can make fun of, so you cater to one of the things Vince finds entertaining.

7. A training with the wrestlers show. In this show you would have a fan go through a daily workout with one of the male or female wrestlers, learning about training and dieting. Given that we�re talking about two different shows with similar themes, that may be overkill. But when Vince McMahon is the program director and his love is bodybuilding, you can see where this would be green lit. I just remember WBF Body Stars and it wasn�t a very interesting show. I guess the idea is the wrestlers will make for better television personalities as instructors, but right now, unless it�s the top tier guys, the WWE wrestlers aren�t as loaded with charisma as in the past. The idea is the wrestler/coach would also go the web site and give workout and nutritional advice for the average person. Ultimately, if you have different wrestlers each week, the shows with the right personalities will work if they can also come across as good coaches.

8. Some sort of a several week long television competition fashioned after Amazing Race or Road Trip where fans compete for front row tickets to WrestleMania.

9. The Divas show talked about here before. The reality show with six of the women (the good thing about only using six is they can all be faces or all be heels without the awkwardness of people who are feuding on television being shown traveling together) training and partying while on a tour bus. The good thing is the women, who don�t make the money of a Randy Orton, will get to travel on a tour bus which is a lot easier than the real life of picking up and dropping off rental cars. The bad is that they always have to be made up all the time, but that�s part of the game when you want to be a celebrity. This show sounds like one where they�ll make up storylines, create fake romances (one premise talked about was a guy who broke up with one of the women now hooking up with another). What�ll be interesting, given the nature of wrestling, is if they put a guy together for a reality show romance with one of the women will the fake reality show thing become real as it has in so many pro wrestling angles, most notably HHH and Stephanie McMahon and Chris and Nancy Benoit.

10. A reality show based on FCW, as you watch wrestlers trying to work their way onto the main roster. The one thing about this is you aren�t focusing on the entire FCW roster, but only a few, and they can pick guys for the show, similar to NXT, who they think are close to ready. Then you don�t have the Andy Leavine deal where he won the show based on his size, but it�s then determined that he�s not ready and basically whatever momentum he could have had is gone and there was no long-term value.

11. A television show where they have interactive fan voting on a match that they want to see from the vault and present the match.

12. A TV series on famous WWE romances, like Randy Savage and Elizabeth, Stephanie and HHH and Edge and Lita. Given that one of the premises is showing Mr. McMahon�s many conquests, while there probably would be a lot of them, using the Mr. McMahon makes it sound like they are more into storyline romances.

13. A ten-part series on the wackiest WWE personalities in history, your guys like Kamala, The Wild Samoans, George Steele or Goldust.

14. A ten part series on the funniest moments in WWE history, mostly doing funny in-ring promos by people like The Rock and Edge & Christian. The problem wit this, is for the benefit of those with flash photography, and hindsight, that it�s going to show that WWE comedy was so much better in 2000 than it was before and after.

15. Mick Foley hosts a show with the great �Oh My God� moments in wrestling history. Again, this would be good show for a while, but you can only do so many episodes. The idea is to show the clips and talk to the people about their thoughts on doing the moves.

16. Classic matches from the past adding in trivia about the matches, and when possible, interviewing the participants.

17. The story behind some of the company�s most famous angles. Talking about how they were created. If this was done in a kayfabe way it�ll be awful, but actual discussion of the thought process of certain angles could be interesting, up to a certain point.

It should be noted that this programming is very different in the sense it�s going to be a channel that only caters to a niche audience, the most devoted and Hardcore of WWE fans. The thing is, WWE does have a lot of them and by its nature, wrestling can provide more interesting programming than continually showing old games from years past.

A lot of these shows on paper sound like you could do a couple of episodes, but most feel like they don�t have legs. But then again, most reality show premises are simple concepts that often get repetitive, and even with that, some last a long time. All of the shows will have a web site tie-in, promoting where the guys will be, places to meet them, so when they go places they�ll be surrounded by fans and the idea is to make them look like stars.

[TTX]

Some do sound decent, but a lot are as you said, probably not going to last too long if they ever make it.

[wildfire]

So does this mean the YouTube thing was not legit, then? That's too bad if so, I thought that made alot more sense than trying to get picked up by the cable/satelite companies.

Especially where wrestling fans i general are pretty used to going to You Tube to see stuff.

[Vegas]

some updates:

SportsBusinessDaily.com published an article on Monday that includes many new details on the upcoming WWE Network, including a firm launch date, the scope of the channel's distribution at launch lots more. Here are some highlights of what we now know:

- WWE is looking to launch the Network on April 1st, 2012 - the day of the company's biggest pay-per-view of the year, WrestleMania XXVIII.

- WWE executives have told cable and satellite operators that it is expecting to reach 40 million homes at launch - a huge number for an upstart network.

- Comcast executives are representing WWE in its negotiations to get picked up by the nations other top providers, including Time Warner Cable, Cox and Bright House Networks.

- WWE also expanded its programming search beyond wrestling, which their sources indicated could include some professional team sports.

- WWE has leased space in South Norwalk, Connecticut (close to the company’s headquarters in Stanford) dedicated to the Network. WWE has not yet named a President of the WWE Network, although it's said they are looking for somebody with reality-show experience. WWE has retained Sucherman Consulting Group to hire 200 employees to staff the network.

- WWE's Chief Marketing Officer, Michelle Wilson is overseeing the launch of the Network.

- The article states that "most, if not all" of WWE's annual 13 pay-per-view events would migrate to the WWE Network. Early surveys by WWE indicated that the "Big 4" traditional shows (WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series & the Royal Rumble) would air exclusively on the Network. Later, another survey indicated WWE had changed their mind on that plan and would have the "Big 4" remain on pay-per-view - with the other "off-brand" shows airing on the Network.

[Tournament Master]

Makes sense to have the Big 4 stay as PPVs and then move the other shows to the network. I really hope that Verizon FIOS carries the network. I can guarantee that the local cable provider Cablevision will not carry it, because they are horrible and hate negotiating with Comcast for content.

[TTX]

Makes much more sense as they'd just be throwign money away to move the Big 4 to the network....the sales of the others are showing that people don't care about them enough if money's tight..plus the cost just isn't worth it.

[Vegas]

from Lords of Pain:

- Sources in WWE report that WWE will be pushing the Network debut back until the Fall of 2012.

The delay comes because WWE won't have the infrastructure needed in place by April 1st when they wanted to launch with WrestleMania.

Officials didn't want to push the debut back but they had to for the long term success of the Network.

Despite the delay, projects that were being produced will still go on as planned.