Well, it was all going so well…
Just 20 minutes before its official UK launch, the WWE has announced that:
The launch of @WWENetwork in the U.K. has been delayed until further notice.
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) November 3, 2014
Why? no one know. How long? well we also don’t know. What this means? Well that’s easy, along of very Angry UK based WWE fans hitting social media and Online to vent their fury.
Hopefully this is just a minor setback, and The WWE can get the UK network fixed ASAP.
***Update***
Reports are stating that the UK launch delay to the WWE Network was delayed at the last minute due to issues with the Sky TV contract that made the original launch of October 1st not happen in the UK.
WWE has recently signed a new five-year TV deal with BSkyB in January for a major rights fees increase. The new deal, included all the WWE pay-per-views airing on Sky Sports and Sky Box Office. Sky currently airs all the PPVs, with 4 pay-per-views airing on Sky Sports at no extra charge for people who have the channel. Each Pay Per View is charged at £14.95 on Box Office, which as you can imagine would see a great loss to Sky if the WWE Network were to launch at £6ish per month for all the PPVs.
What we know is that this isn’t a small technical hiccup, this is a contract issue with one of the worlds biggest entertainment providers, so it wont be something that is hastily fixed.
***Original Article***
After months of waiting, and for fans of the WWE product month of being advertised too, us folks in the UK will finally(…..) be able to get access to the WWE Network, from the World Wrestling Entertainment.
For those that don’t know, the WWE Network is a Streaming service dedicated to the world of Wrestling. The WWE Network offers subscribers access to all of the WWE’s PPV events across the year, streaming of classic content and original programming all focussed around the World of the WWE/WWF and older wrestling promotions such as WCW and beyond.
Users can access onto classic PPV’s including all the Wrestlemainia’s, old episodes of Raw and Smackdown, a complete library of WCW wresting and Original content in the form of Documentaries and reality shows all with the WWE product at the centre.
The WWE Network goes live from 8pm this evening (3rdNovember) and will be available to watch through an internet browser, or on iPhone, iPad or Android devices for thi first week, with support via apps on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku boxes and select smart TVs all coming from November the 18th.
For the month of November the WWE Network will also be free to subscribers, which will provide this month’s Survivor Series PPV (which Features Team Cena vs Team Authority) free to subscribers when it airs on November the 23rd.
The WWE Network still doesn’t have current WWE Raw or Smackdown shows, as they are part of the Sky Sports package in the UK, but users will be able to watch Weekly up-to-date shows like WWE Superstars, Main Event and the training program WWE NXT and its PPVs all on the Network.
The WWE Network will go live at network.wwe.com form 8pm tonight and users can sign in using their Facebook and Twitter accounts. UK pricing hasn’t been clarified, but in the US the WWE network is charged at $9.99 a month, which is £6.25 over in the UK.