The WWE Network: Session 4 – The Obstacles

Many of us grew up watching TV.  We knew which day and time our favorite sit-com or drama was going to air, and we would adjust our schedule to watch it.  When cable television began to spread across the nation, we were offered a variety of shows, but regardless of the variety of shows cable offered, we still stuck to our favorite sit-com or drama.  When our favorite was over, we spent countless times channel surfing trying to find something worth watching.  Sometimes, we end-up finding nothing worth watching, and so the criticism of TV goes, “we have hundreds of channels, but nothing to watch.”  Will the WWE Network be one of those channels?

One obstacle I see with the WWE Network is that it seems to be 100% WWE programming.  Unless there is a change in WWE protocol, we shouldn’t expect to see Impact Wrestling or Ring Of Honor on the WWE Network.  The name alone says it all – WWE Network.  If it shows a movie, it will be a WWE Movie.  If it shows news, it will be WWE News.  If it shows wrestling, it will be WWE wrestling.  Why is this an obstacle?  Because wrestling fans are WRESTLING fans and not necessarily just WWE wrestling fans.  There is no obligation for the WWE to be a haven for wrestling programs, but there is an advantage of having other wrestling shows on the WWE Network.  There is a possibility of gaining those fans, if not to the WWE program, then at least to the WWE Network.  On the flipside, for those who are not fans of the WWE, then no matter how many programs you have, you will never convert them to the channel.

Another obstacle I see is Vince McMahon might be spreading himself too thin between the WWE Network, WWE Films, WWE Programming AND Linda McMahon’s possible 2012 Senate run.  WWE success has relied on Vince McMahon being an active player in whatever he is doing.  Actually, all successful leaders do that, but micromanaging people can prove detrimental to anyone’s success.  WWE Wrestling Programming is where all of Vince’s success started.  Until now, he is still in the middle of everything that’s done on the show.  WWE Films venture into the film industry can be a very profitable business, but they still haven’t yet found a winning formula in making movies.  So, close monitoring is still needed in order for it to be profitable.  With Linda McMahon’s possible 2012 Senate run, Vince will never let his wife do this entirely alone.  Now, we have the WWE Network.  Creating programs that will fit a 24-hour time slot is a daunting task.  Though the concept of the WWE Network has been discussed and planned in great detail prior to it’s official announcement to it’s stockholders, the execution will still require a lot of work.  Can Vince McMahon handle all this?  Possibly yes, but it’s not going to be easy, and something might suffer along the way.

Another obstacle to mention is the fact that single sports channel’s do not necessarily have strong ratings.  The Tennis channel only gets strong ratings when there is a major tennis tournament like Wimbledon.  The Golf channel only gets strong ratings during the PGA championships.  When there isn’t a current tournament or championship, the ratings aren’t necessarily stong.  If Raw and Smackdown move from their current networks to the WWE Network, there is a strong chance of a huge drop in ratings.  With low ratings, there is a potential loss in sponsorship.  Less sponsors mean less money.  That is the gamble that the WWE will be taking when starting the WWE Network.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that the WWE Network is doomed to fail, but this is obstacle that must be handled.

Though I’m on the fence when it comes to the WWE Network, I am really interested to see on how they approach this channel.  There is so much that is not yet revealed concerning this channel.  Pluse, 2012 is 12-months long, so we have yet to hear of an official air date and which cable companies will carry the channel.  All we can do is sit and wait and see what the WWE has in store for all of us.