TNA's TV Deal & The WWE Network

If you were wondering why I didn't bring up the hot topic from earlier this week about TNA possibly being cancelled, I was waiting for the numbers on the WWE Network to come out. Now that that info is out, I can talk about both.

Let me start with TNA. There were reports circulating that Spike TV has dropped TNA Impact Wrestling. The way some fans were acting, TNA is already out of business, the WWE has bought it, and Dixie Carter will be debuting the Raw after Summerslam to start an invasion angle. Slow it down a little. TNA still has time to negotiate their deal.

Let's assume they do lose the deal with Spike TV. That does not mean they are out of business. They can still negotiate with other networks. They are not dead yet. Let's say they have trouble finding another home prior to their final episode on Spike. Okay, they can run their shows on the Internet. That would be embarrassing, but TNA has been embarrassing before. Thing is, that would only be a short-term fix. They will eventually have to find a new TV deal. They will have to downsize to be able to keep going. They may not be able to afford the few true stars they have left. And that is when you would expect them to finally go out of business. We are not at that point yet. If they ever get to that point where they have no TV deal, I will talk about this again.

The WWE Network has 700,000 subscribers. From the last time they announced a number, they gained 161,000 subscribers and lost 128,000 subscribers. Because the WWE has done a lot to cut costs, they no longer need over a million subscribers to make a profit off this venture. Regardless, I still feel like holding them to that 1,000,000-subscriber benchmark they had put up for themselves. I am surprised they lost so much. I am not surprised there would be some people that would want to drop it before the 6 months ran out, but over 100,000 is more than I expected. Just a waste of money. And how many more will they lose when 6 months are up? I doubt they will be able to pull a million before the end of the year. They might even get to a point where they are losing more than they are gaining.

What kind of things can the WWE do to get more subscribers? They had offered another free trial a few weeks ago. They are now going to offer an option where you can pay $19.99 a month, instead of $9.99 with a 6-month commitment. Pretty much the same idea as just paying for whatever PPV you wish to see. That might appeal more to casual fans. They can also put up more content. I still think the best thing they could do is have major angles happen on programming exclusive to the WWE Network. Have title changes. Have big promos. If you put mediocrity on there, people won't feel like they are missing anything.

Scott Steiner recently did an interview and said some things that relate to the WWE Network.

All the social media and other things, a lot of it is manure. It doesn’t mean you’re going to draw or people are going to see you. You look at Charlie Sheen and then how many Twitter followers he had there and on Facebook. Then he tried to capitalize on it with a tour, and nobody came to watch him. Just because you have Twitter followers and Facebook doesn’t mean a whole lot and [doesn't mean] people are going to pay to see you. A lot of that is misjudged. Just because you have people on their phone or Internet doesn’t mean they are going to pay. Same for the Network. I think they misjudged the popularity of it.”

Just because somebody follows you don’t mean they are going to pay for it. A lot of people are misjudging the popularity of people or characters. It’s manure. I think they did the same thing. A lot of those wrestlers have a lot of Twitter followers, but all that combined they should be able to get $9.99 for the Network. They found out they don’t pay…When do you concede that you failed? They live in their own little box and think they are all geniuses. So when are they going to concede that they are not as smart as they think they are?

I agree with the idea. Just because you have a lot of Internet support, that does not mean that the support will translate when it comes to buying your merchandise, coming to see you, and really standing by you when it counts. I have a Twitter account. I don't follow a lot of people. I follow Ted DiBiase Jr., but don't ask me why. I have no idea. I'm not even a fan of the guy that much. My favorite singer, Shakira, recently became the first person on Facebook to get 100,000,000 likes on their page. Does that mean her music and videos and everything else is always #1? No. The music industry is still very competitive. Shakira is still successful, but the fact that she holds that record in social media does not mean too much. I don't care. She's still my favorite. 

It's the same idea I brought up months ago. Casual fans are not going to be that interested in the product to want to subscribe to the WWE Network. And a lot of those Twitter followers are just casual fans. The WWE misjudged the portion of their total fanbase that actually care enough to subscribe and are capable of subscribing. They will likely not meet 1,000,000 by the end of the year and had to cut a lot of expenses, including laying off workers, just to make their business more manageable. By trying so hard just to make the WWE Network a success, they may still end up putting themselves in a bad position.