Post by flatsdomino on Jun 28, 2012 7:47:12 GMT -5
With all the latest round of questions and speculation on the network, we’ve been told that DirecTV has said they have no interest in carrying it, which right there knocks about 30% of its potential revenue off. There was talk that very few cable carriers are committing to paying a per subscriber rate for it, which is what they were counting on for profitability. The other alternative is to be like Showtime and charge a subscription fee directly to consumers. The risks of that become huge. If they get the level of response for the network that they got for 24/7, which would be a worst case scenario, the company could lose more on the network than they earn in profits on wrestling, and that would still leave the movie business to put them in the red.
Plus, 24/7 interest faded as time went on. Keep in mind that’s a worst case. But with that model, breaking even would not be easy. Plus you have to factor in if they put eight or nine PPVs per year on the network, that it would eliminate much of the revenue from those events. Now, I expect they’ll continue to offer the PPVs via traditional model because many people won’t order the network (although the monthly network price would have to be significantly lower than the price of a single PPV). But if you can get the network for $9.95 and in exchange, WWE and your cable provider loses a monthly $44.95 or $54.95 order, that becomes a different issue. Plus, at that point you cut the value of your “B” shows from $44.95 to $9.95 to the average consumer.
With the promise of all the programming ordered can they get 1 million regular subscribers to the channel in North America (the only market offering it at first) when 24/7 Classics on Demand in 2010 worldwide had about 80,000 subscribers? November, the last scheduled internal launch date isn’t that far off, although publicly they have not committed to any date. However, they did this past week cut a new commercial for the channel which in theory should start airing soon.
Plus, 24/7 interest faded as time went on. Keep in mind that’s a worst case. But with that model, breaking even would not be easy. Plus you have to factor in if they put eight or nine PPVs per year on the network, that it would eliminate much of the revenue from those events. Now, I expect they’ll continue to offer the PPVs via traditional model because many people won’t order the network (although the monthly network price would have to be significantly lower than the price of a single PPV). But if you can get the network for $9.95 and in exchange, WWE and your cable provider loses a monthly $44.95 or $54.95 order, that becomes a different issue. Plus, at that point you cut the value of your “B” shows from $44.95 to $9.95 to the average consumer.
With the promise of all the programming ordered can they get 1 million regular subscribers to the channel in North America (the only market offering it at first) when 24/7 Classics on Demand in 2010 worldwide had about 80,000 subscribers? November, the last scheduled internal launch date isn’t that far off, although publicly they have not committed to any date. However, they did this past week cut a new commercial for the channel which in theory should start airing soon.
-WON
Really interesting stuff. I still wanna see the network happen and succeed, but the fact that DirecTV basically shot them down, as well as the fact that they're still coming out with new programming on other channels (Main Event on ION) really doesn't bode well for the fate of the network. The non-interest from cable providers is really something they should've worked out BEFORE they started airing promos for it and trumpeting it's arrival. It's just awful, awful business planning that they started to roll this out before they even really had a plan or a model for it. And if it ends up not happening, Vince & co. are gonna look mighty foolish now, and no amount of dubstep can save them from that.