At the quarterly investor’s conference, WWE reported their WWE Network subscriptions number for the end of June.
This number has been much talked about because of WWE’s ability to show a stable subscription base to move on to. Dave Meltzer pegged 900,000 as a number that they should be okay with.
Per Josh Nason’s report on the Wrestling Observer, Vince McMahon announced the number at 700,000.
McMahon did say that they were making the network available in 170 countries starting on August 12. You have to wonder how many people already have the Network internationally. I know many of my friends who live in Canada were able to finagle their IP to get it already.
In Canada specifically, they cut a deal with Rogers Communications to create a pay channel with a combination of their current TV and Network programming.
In the second quarter, they only saw a net of 33,000 subscribers, but a gross of 161,000 new subscribers, so you saw nearly 130,000 subscribers cancel.
They are adding a $19.99 one-month price option in addition to the current 6-month subscription plan, which will be for those who want to take advantage of really only watching certain PPVs. That makes it seem like the PPVs will stay on the network and not move back to cable systems.