I told you so! The WWE stock is upwards from $31.01--an all time high from October 1999. Currently, they have a television deal with NBC Universal, airing on USA Network, SyFy, and NBC specials that ends this fall. They gave NBCU an exclusive contract negotiation period earlier this year, which has ended. So now WWE are free to pursue other options like Comcast, Viacom, or AOL Time Warner. Right now WWE are negotiating with many distributors but are not naming them until the time is right. With the WWE Network in high demand, they are confidently negotiating from a position of power. What does this mean? In the late 90s they were able to secure a deal with Viacom, leaving USA Network for a lucrative deal landing them on TNN (now SpikeTV) and MTV. They were also able to inspire TNN to drop ECW programming, eventually folding the promotion, which is a statement to how much of a hot commodity the company were at the time. And it may be that its time again. Though Dish Network and DirecTV take great offense of being undercut in the pay-per-view royalties, it has not hurt WWE. Dish Network spitefully discontinued carrying WWE pay-per-views, inspiring a lot of their customers to purchase the Network. Whether you like wrestling or not, there is a high possibility that WWE will continue to expand, much like it did in the late 90s/early 2000s. This time theres more of a conscious effort to produce a PG product, unlike the racy material in the late 90s. It should help them in the long run. Time will tell, but things are looking quite good for them.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 20:35:21 +0000
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