fozzyrock1986 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 If I remember correctly, the wwe contract with Sky ends in January. Do you think Sky will renew or are we looking at another broadcaster? Found an article (below) from a WWE conference call back in June stating the U.K. deal is transforming. With the recent rumours of NXT U.K. possibly airing on BT sports, could Raw and SmackDown also be part of the deal? http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/06/27/wwe-tv-deal-conference-highlights-raw-smackdown-cross-promoting-new-uk-india-deals/ Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 It wouldn’t surprise me if Sky dropped it, they still try and sell the PPV’s for £16.99 on box office every month, they’ve obviously seen a huge drop in PPV buys due to the WWE Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daaaaaad! Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Could we see with BT Sport a similar situation to FOX in the USA where they lost UFC so they pick up WWE as a consolation? ...nah. Doubt it. They’re entrenched with Sky and the aforementioned FOX deal will surely only strengthen that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzyrock1986 Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 From a selfish perspective, I’m hoping it changes. Sky Sports is getting way too expensive. Most of the other sports I watch have extended highlights or games on other channels that I can cope with. Paying over the odds on top of a wwe network subscription is getting ridiculous.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_mole Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 14 minutes ago, Daaaaaad! said: Could we see with BT Sport a similar situation to FOX in the USA where they lost UFC so they pick up WWE as a consolation? ...nah. Doubt it. They’re entrenched with Sky and the aforementioned FOX deal will surely only strengthen that. Comcast now owns Sky not Fox but they obviously own the rights to WWE Raw in the States still with USA Network. They just signed the NBA to Sky but have lost several non British football rights LA Liga, Chinese Super League etc, think they only have the MLS & UEFA Nations League. LA Liga especially letting go of, so if WWE demand too much money I see them dropping it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 18, 2018 While I have no illusions that "the kids made me get Sky for the wrestling" isn't a thing like it was when my generation were the kids in question, I'd be shocked if Sky dumped it. I'd imagine the viewing figures (thus ad money) for the main timeslots are still healthier than anything else they could dump on. Only the "asking for more money" situation could scupper it and that doesn't happen unless WWE get a better offer. Who's going to think it's worth paying more than what Sky do, really? It's been the home of wrestling here for nearly 30 years. No other subscription sports platform surely is going to have the number of base subscribers to make possible catching the required viewership to make it worth the outlay, and enough take-up of new subscribers based solely on the acquisition of WWE programs represents too big a gamble to out-bid Sky. Unless WWE simply thinks there's enough people here who'd get the Network if it wasn't on Sky, jettison traditional TV in the UK altogether, fuck Sky and their margin, we'll take your tenner a month each, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 TV is their shop window. Without it, new Network subscriptions would quickly dry up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted October 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 18, 2018 WWE is useful to Sky because there are people who subscribe to the sports package just watch it and have absolutely no interest in other sports. That's quite rare, so I would be surprised if they let it go without a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted October 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 18, 2018 Absolutely not. BT are starting to scale back and I don't think there's a TV network that will either A) touch wrestling with a bargepole, even if it's WWE or B) willing to pay the amount Sky will. Sky won't want to drop WWE and WWE certainly can't lose Sky if there isn't anyone of their equivalent willing to take the rights. The interesting thing to see will be how much Sky pay this time around- will it be more or less than the current deal. One would assume the network could force WWE into taking a lower offer, but then again we thought the same with the US TV rights and the new deal(s) there are huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members seph Posted October 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 18, 2018 7 hours ago, PunkStep said: The interesting thing to see will be how much Sky pay this time around- will it be more or less than the current deal. One would assume the network could force WWE into taking a lower offer, but then again we thought the same with the US TV rights and the new deal(s) there are huge. As above, ten-figure-TV rights are in the bag. The company *could* afford a price cut in their product but would they swallow their pride in doing so? Now that Vince's name has come up in the US/Saudi mess (rotten timing) can they afford to be so choosy in terms of PR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 I think if anything Sky being desperate to get whatever they can get might play into WWE's hands. They have lost Champions League, La Liga and a few other things and WWE would be a big loss to them whatever way you look at it, whilst I doubt BT would outbid Sky there is still always that threat that they could try and win the rights. I think WWE will either get the same deal or a much better one. WWE always seems to do well with these kind of deals, they will spin the record numbers, Network subscriptions, YouTube hits, Saudi shows (money paid) and somehow will get a good deal. Also with NXT UK they may also be able to offer that as part of the TV deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Kennedy Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 BT are losing UFC from December, aren’t they? They might be looking to plug that gap somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted October 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 19, 2018 On 10/18/2018 at 10:20 AM, gmoney said: WWE is useful to Sky because there are people who subscribe to the sports package just watch it and have absolutely no interest in other sports. That's quite rare, so I would be surprised if they let it go without a thought. That's a good point tbh. I've often thought that WWE isn't a good fit for sports channels content-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.