If you don't care about the non-wrestling portions of your favorite wrestling show, the important stuff is
- Raw stays on USA - SmackDown stays on SyFy and appears to still be on Fridays (there was a thought they may move to Tuesday and go live, they don't explicitly deny that anywhere, but they keep calling the show Friday Night SmackDown! so it's a solid hint) - Total Divas is renewed for another 10 episodes. - There's no word if the delay between when RAW/SD air and when it's on the network has been reduced - that's one thing they were looking for in this arrangement.
That business stuff is WWE - and people who wager on WWE stock! - were expecting the money WWE gets from USA to double or even triple. Instead, uh, WWE tried to just announce the total revenue they're getting from increases in the United States, the UK, and Thailand (!?!?) in one lump sum to obscure what was actually going on. That's never a good sign. Meltzer does the math
Originally posted by Wrestling ObserverThat news would indicate the U.S. TV revenue of $106 million per year in 2013 would increase to roughly $160 million in 2015, far below the $280 million hoped for, let alone analysts who were throwing around figures of more than $400 million when seeing NASCAR ratings comparisons.
That's bad. There are people who are going to be asked to look for employment elsewhere, that kind of bad. WWE's plan going forward was higher TV money would offset the short term loss of PPV subscribers and they'd eventually get enough people onto the network to make that too.
WWE also mentioned they need 1.3 to 1.4 million subscribers to the Network to completely replace the PPV revenue they used to get - all their numbers are here. That's larger that 1 million that had earlier been reported. They had only half of that many subscribers last time they reported the number. It's a big hill to climb.
If they were expecting that much and fell way short then that has to mean cuts are coming. Cutting talent and pyro will only get them so far, so does production quality take the hit? I can't imagine it is cheap to travel around, set everything up and tear it all down to do it again.
In a way it is surprising that with all the hours of cable television to fill that there wasn't more interest.
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoIs this just a deal through 2015 then?
The length of the deal is weirdly not said. These have been five years deals previously, which would mean thru 2019. Omitting that may mean it's something else they're not happy with.
This may mean short term cutbacks on things like pyro and setups - they've expanded the set for house shows to include a video board for pre-taped promos, and I wonder if that goes away before anything we'd see on TV - but if they eventually get the Network money coming in, they'l be fine. The people at the top will be fine, because they can control what gets cut back (and so it won't be them) and it may not actually affect the wrestlers (who somehow don't get paid out of any of the TV revenue anyway), but other people won't do so good.
Maybe the more direct issue is a WWE in a bad mood often makes some bad TV. WWE in a really good mood makes for some bad TV too. You want them happy enough not to be neurotic and panicky, and not so angry that they're creating strawmen to destroy.
If I am reading the stock right, its at either at $15.20 or back up to $19.90 as of the end of the day. I am wondering if there was as much interest in Raw as we were all lead to believe. Its still more money in the bank for them, but on paper, they probably lost some of that today.
The real problem which I have been saying since their numbers got released is the Network. It is not working the way the WWE needs it to. Its fine that us wrestling nerds get all the past shit and the PPVs, but there needs to more. Besides moving Raw and Smackdown over, I have no idea. Their current line up doesn't seem to be that impressive. However, if they want to do new content, its going to cost money. I don't believe if they got every tape library ever, it would move either.
At this point, they have a world champ who is just got out of surgery, a new venture that is not living up to expectations and a deal that Wall Street said Meh to. Not a good week for Vince.
Originally posted by thecubsfan WWE also mentioned they need 1.3 to 1.4 million subscribers to the Network to completely replace the PPV revenue they used to get - all their numbers are here. That's larger that 1 million that had earlier been reported. They had only half of that many subscribers last time they reported the number. It's a big hill to climb.
I had heard that the number needed to replace the PPV revenue was always 1.25 or a little higher. The 1M subs was for domestic only, whereas the 1.3-1.4 would be for world-wide numbers.
Originally posted by thecubsfanInstead, uh, WWE tried to just announce the total revenue they're getting from increases in the United States, the UK, and Thailand (!?!?) in one lump sum to obscure what was actually going on. (edited by thecubsfan on 15.5.14 1821)
They signed a cable deal in Thailand at the beginning of the year. Presumably it's a new market for them.
So, pretty much all neutral or bad news. Less money in the TV deal than they were hoping for, Total Divas continues to steal airtime from actually talented wrestlers like Paige and Emma, WWE Network is still behind on subscribers and the stock prices are plummeting. Still, while I consider Total Divas being renewed to be in the 'bad' column, with as many financial problems as they seem to be having, it's a continued source of revenue so they'll take what they can get.
Originally posted by Blind_GuardianTotal Divas continues to steal airtime from actually talented wrestlers like Paige and Emma,
BLASPHEMY!!!
Paige and Emma have been on tv almost every episode since they debuted. The fact that they're doing garbage with both is a separate story, but Total Divas isn't affecting them at all.
Originally posted by Blind_GuardianTotal Divas continues to steal airtime from actually talented wrestlers like Paige and Emma,
BLASPHEMY!!!
Paige and Emma have been on tv almost every episode since they debuted. The fact that they're doing garbage with both is a separate story, but Total Divas isn't affecting them at all.
I haven't actually seen Emma in several weeks, maybe she got moved to SmackDown (which I usually give a pass)... you're right that they haven't really gotten caught up in the Total Diva's angles, at least not yet, but it means there isn't a whole lot of actually talented wrestlers for them to do programs with. I count the two of them, AJ, Alicia Foxx and ... that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. In my perfect world Emma and Paige would be feuding for the Diva's title and putting on ****+ matches, like they did in NXT.
Originally posted by WhitebaconI was really hoping the Network was going to be able to stream Raw and SmackDown with the new deal.
I have a feeling part of the new deal will allow them to be streamed after some (much shorter) period of time, but live streams are probably too dilutive to a broadcast deal even think about.
WWE's 52 week high was 31.98 and yesterday's close was 19.93.
Vince has probably moved firmly out of the "billionaire" club again.
(edited by CRZ on 16.5.14 1115)
$.12 dividend quarterly - assuming that doesn't change, you are getting 1% per quarter if you invest $12/share. That's not terrible... 4% plus the speculative upside.
If it drops to $8/share and they don't drop the dividend I would get in I think. That's a 1.5% return every 3 months and it would be just $1 under the 52 week low price...
I'm pleased to hear that they were able to get new TV deals. While I don't watch WWE these days, I like the idea of them being in a position to expose new viewers to wrestling through all of their programming hours. I just wish that they had been able to get Smackdown back on a non-cable TV channel, so as to introduce people who do not have cable to wrestling. Smackdown being on UPN was how I originally found out about wrestling back in 1999.
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Throughout wrestling history, fans have been treated to ring battles that defied convention, comprehension, and promotional territories. We've seen World Champion vs.
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