Vince McMahon's WWE - formerly WWF - relied on pay-per-view buys for a good chunk of its revenue. Since the turn of the century though, the pay-per-view market for professional wrestling began to rapidly dry up, partially thanks to WWE producing so many events. WWE tried to counteract this lower buy count by raising prices, but that worked about as well as one might expect, with traditional pay-per-views reaching as high as $70 depending on the event.
That all changed in 2014, when WWE launched the WWE Network subscription streaming service. For one monthly payment of $9.99, fans got the terrific value of decades of back catalog programming from WWE, WCW, ECW, and more, as well as monthly live pay-per-view shows at no additional cost. For the most part, it's been a big success, although subscriber numbers never seemed to increase as fast as WWE would've preferred.
With that in mind, to say most fans were shocked by the recent announcement that WWE Network would shut down as a standalone service, becoming part of Peacock, would be an understatement. This big of a change has naturally led to much consternation among subscribers, but all in all, WWE is making the right move, and fans stand to benefit.
Why WWE Network ing Peacock Is Better Than Fans Realize
It's fair to say that in March 2021, when WWE Network's subscribers are migrated over to Peacock , there will be a necessary period of adjustment. If they're not already with Peacock, they'll need to learn a new interface, search system, and catalog layout. That can't be discounted, and the annoyance there is understandable. Once that period is over with though, WWE Network's move to Peacock is a huge win for both WWE and its diehard fans, those likely to be already paying their $9.99 every month.
From a business standpoint, WWE stands to make a cool billion dollars over the next five years on the deal, which will surely enable them to create more great streaming content. It also strengthens their relationship with NBC Universal. For fans though, the list of positives is also great. There's been no impression given so far than any of the back WWE Network catalog won't be ported over to Peacock, and every live pay-per-view event will continue to be included at no extra cost. The price also isn't going up, and if one doesn't mind ads, it's actually going down, as Peacock's ad-ed tier only costs $4.99 a month. For those who hate ads, Peacock's ad-free tier is the same price they're already used to, $9.99.
The biggest positive though is that for no extra cost, WWE Network subscribers will now get access to the thousands of hours of movies and TV shows available on Peacock . That includes the full Saturday Night Live archives, the full runs of shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation, lots of classic movies, and much more. Outside of the aforementioned adjustment period to the changeover, WWE Network's customers have nothing to lose on this deal and thousands of hours of content to gain.