WWE And TNA: 7 Worst Moments Of The Week (Nov 2)

2. 70 New Countries. 28,000 New Subscribers

WWE.com

The WWE Network has gone global, and fans around the world are letting their voice be known with a loud, collective “meh” chant! Meh! Meh! Meh! The newest subscription numbers came in, and now 731,000 people are paying customers. In some ways that sounds impressive, but it’s still over a quarter million short of breaking even. A lot of people aren’t bother renewing and would rather watch reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond. Or whatever people watch when they’re not watching wrestling.

Because of this, WWE is getting desperate. A free month of the network? A monthly subscription? While that sounds good and all from a customer’s standpoint, it’s WWE giving up one piece of their original plan, one comprimise at a time. Not long ago, WWE had a million people paying around $60 for WrestleMania. How many people are now just going to sign up for April, only pay $10 and then not renew in May? Where are they going to make up that money?

While WWE may offer different plans and pricing options with The Network, nothing they do will address their biggest problem: insane overexposure. There just aren’t that many people out there who even need the five free hours a week that WWE gives them. Only a small fraction of the audience still wants more. You already see every single healthy top star every single week (and everyone but Cena, HHH, and Steph multiple times a week), so asking for people to pay every month is an uphill battle.

With the changing cable landscape, The Network may be a huge cash cow eventually, but right now it’s a bit sad to watch with Vince McMahon begging us to order. Soon he’ll probably start offering to watch it with us on our couch, and announce old pay-per-views. And I don’t particularly want him in my house yelling “What a maneuver!” over and over again.