WWE fans are, unsurprisingly, not happy about this move, largely because, over the last $15 years, WWE has conditioned their fans to expect value - first by heavily promoting a $9.99 price point for the OTT WWE Network, then by moving to Peacock's $5.99 tier (which, if you're a Kabletown customer, meant you were getting it for free). If we were coming straight from traditional PPV to the ESPN streamer, the move might not be going over as poorly (since monthly PPVs were ~$60 pre-Network), but we're well and truly beyond that point.
They've shot themselves in the foot by telling US customers that not only do you have to pay 3x more to get less content, but you ALSO have to have a Netflix subscription, live OTA TV or the CW app, and a basic cable or Peacock subscription if you want to continue watching all of the weekly programming. And the cherry on this bullshit sundae is that this only applies domestically - because WWE already consolidated their international rights with Netflix - which means WWE is giving a Stone Cold Salute (IYKYK) to its US fanbase. There are going to be a lot of fans signing up for VPNs or abandoning the product altogether. And Tony Khan and AEW must be absolutely salivating at that prospect. On Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 12:06:35 PM UTC-4 Mark Jeffries wrote: > It will be known as just ESPN (what else?), will be $29.99 a month and has > announced that they will be taking over the WWE pay-per-view events that > had been on Peacock--this is an addition to the NFL buying 10% of ESPN and > putting the NFL Network and NFL RedZone under the Worldwide Leader's > supervision (and will be a strain on "SportsCenter" doing any sort of > straightforward reporting on anything negative about the NFL): > > > https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/wwe-events-espn-streaming-service-launch-date-1236338276/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=Today+In+Entertainment+August+6+2025&utm_content=625000_8-6-2025&utm_id=625000 > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/21e023ae-aaee-4b4f-a76c-36f1cb3bdac1n%40googlegroups.com.
